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Gilad jazz in support of Palestinian plight John Lewis - LONDON, Middle East Online 3/7/2009 Israeli artist - one of London’s finest saxophonists - takes Palestinian cause with him on British tour - Manic Beat Preacher - A few days before I meet Gilad Atzmon, he finds himself at the centre of an international storm. The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoǧan, has approvingly cited Atzmon during a debate with Israeli president Shimon Peres. "Atzmon, a Jew himself," said Erdoǧan, "says that Israeli barbarity is far beyond even ordinary cruelty. "Ever since, Atzmon has been getting 200 emails a day, his BlackBerry is constantly buzzing and his words are being debated by hundreds of bloggers around the world. Atzmon is revelling in the attention. "A world leader quoting an artist? " he laughs. "Isn’t that incredible? Not a singer, not even a fucking pianist, but a stupid fucking saxophonist! Ha!" It may come as a surprise to some that Atzmon is a saxophonist at all. His career as a musician has long been drowned out by the clatter of his extra-curricular activities:. . . more.. e-mail Lebanese composer Mansour Rahbani dies Middle East Online 1/13/2009 BEIRUT - Lebanese composer and musician Mansour Rahbani, 83, a well-known figure in the Arab world, died on Tuesday following a long illness, Lebanon’s national news agency announced. Rahbani was the brother-in-law of Lebanese singing diva Fairuz, for whom he composed many poems and songs along with his brother Assi. [end] Haredi listeners fear séance involved in album production Yoav Friedman, YNetNews 12/9/2008 (Audio) New CD featuring digitally mastered tracks based on old recordings of dead cantors prompt concern among buyers fearing producers ’raised the dead’ to record album - AUDIO - A recently released album containing songs performed by legendary cantors has been causing turmoil among the ultra-Orthodox community due to the simple fact that the performers are all dead. Record company AMC, which produced the album titled "In Those Days, At This Season," used old recordings, had the sound digitally improved and added background music performed by a philharmonic orchestra. This process of audio manipulation has apparently disturbed many buyers, who flooded the company with questions and complaints: "How is it that the cantor knows to wait for the orchestra? There must be some sort of spell here - is this séance? Does the Halacha allow tampering with the voices of. . . more.. e-mail The microphone is the weapon Noam Ben-Zeev, Ha’aretz 12/4/2008 BETHLEHEM, the end of November - "The European-Palestinian Hip Hop Tour" arrives after gigs in Jenin, Nablus and Ramallah. At 7 P. M. the Al Nadwa Cultural Center is already buzzing. Palestinian-German rapper Wassim Taha, aka Massive, is thrilling the audience, Palestinian-Danish rapper Mohammad Marwan, aka Marwan - symbolically dressed like an injured person, using crutches - both sings and moderates the evening and also talks on the phone to PR, the Gazan rapper who was not allowed to leave the Strip to join the concert. Everyone is waiting for the international star, Shadia Mansour - the British Palestinian who mixes rock and Arab folk music and whose voice shifts from hard rap to nearly operatic lyricism. Her coming on stage is greeted by huge applause and her set has everyone dancing. more.. e-mail VIDEO - Gaza hip-hop trio overcomes many obstacles to transmit music to world Haaretz Staff and Channel 10, Ha’aretz 11/26/2008 Haaretz. com/Channel 10 daily feature for November 25, 2008 Three young Gaza residents harboring no small amount of frustration have found a creative outlet to transmit their message to the world. The three comprise "Black Unit Band," a hip-hop trio making music in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, not always the friendliest breeding ground for Western culture. But even getting music made depends on Israel’s goodwill. The studio in which Black Unit Band was recording their first album closed down recently due to power outages, brought on by Israel’s refusal to let fuel into the coastal territory. But they plan on heading back to the studio soon, and there’s no doubt that current events will continue to provide excellent fodder for new material. more.. e-mail Mahmoud Darwish Commemorated in London Mamoon Alabbasi - London, Palestine Chronicle 11/7/2008 ’Darwish’s vision lives on after his death. ’The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer. The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract. Wasting little time on prose, Fathieh Saudi, poet and chair of Exiled Writers Ink, recited verses of Darwish’s poetry at the intervals when presenting each participant. A poem by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter in memory of Mahmoud Darwish was read on his behalf by Joanna Carolan, a writer and performer. The poem, entitled ’Death’, ended with:Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss the dead body The more.. e-mail ’Riot grrrl’ fuses feminism with Zionism in pioneering publication Raphael Ahren, Ha’aretz 11/7/2008 Hadass Ben-Ari is not the first Anglo to move to Jerusalem because she "fell in love" with Israel during a short-term visit. But while most other Jews her age come to the capital to study or to work for a Jewish organization, the 26-year-old Ben-Ari spends her time publishing Fallopian Falafel, "the first and only Jerusalem-based feminist zine, bringing riot grrrl culture to the holy land. ""Riot grrrl" is no typo but an underground feminist punk/heavy metal movement that started in America in the early 1990s. Besides being a music scene, the riot grrrl subculture consists of political activism and a spirit of DIY (Do it yourself), which includes the publication of so-called zines (short for fanzine) - non-commercial pamphlets with small circulations. "It was mostly a self defense mechanism," Ben-Ari said in explaining how she got involved with the movement as a 22-year-old journalism student while living with her parents in Canada. more.. e-mail Mahmoud Darwish commemorated in London Mamoon Alabbasi LONDON, Middle East Online 11/6/2008 The life and works of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were celebrated in London Monday in a special event that paid tribute to the renowned Arab writer. The event, organised by Exiled Writers Ink, included readings from the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish and other poets, literary analyses of some of his work, a short musical piece, and a documentary extract. Wasting little time on prose, Fathieh Saudi, poet and chair of Exiled Writers Ink, recited verses of Darwishs poetry at the intervals when presenting each participant. A poem by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter in memory of Mahmoud Darwish was read on his behalf by Joanna Carolan, a writer and performer. The poem, entitled Death, ended with: Did you wash the dead body Did you close both its eyes Did you bury the body Did you leave it abandoned Did you kiss. . . more.. e-mail You can’t say no to peace Noam Ben Zeev, Ha’aretz 10/8/2008 Musicians from 70 leading orchestras and 40 countries, including someIsraelis from local orchestras and even one Palestinian, will gather here to perform for a symbolic fee, under the heading "A message of peace to Israel and the Middle East. "By playing "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" by Berliner Felix Mendelssohn and works by Viennese composer Gustav Mahler and contemporary British composer Roxanna Panufnik, they will reflect the "unique strength of music as an ambassador of peace," according to the man who founded the orchestra in 1993, legendary conductor Georg Solti. What is there about classical music that causes it to serve repeatedly as a symbol of peace and brotherhood? According to the cliche, since music is an abstract art and lacks all elements of representation such as visuals or ideas (and in the opinion of composer Igor Stravinsky even emotions), it is capable of bridging cultural differences. more.. e-mail Tag Rugby Match at Taybeh Oktoberfest Maria C. Khoury – Taybeh, West Bank, Palestine Chronicle 10/2/2008 ’The Taybeh Oktoberfest is a two days event promoting local products with music and dance groups. ’The community of Taybeh, in the West Bank is going to keep its leading role this year by continuing to make history in Palestine. Along with introducing the first Palestinian non-alcoholic beer at the 2008 Oktoberfest, Taybeh will also host the first time ever Tag Rugby Match in Palestine between the Ramallah Blue Snakes and Beit Jala Lions RFC at 1 pm on Sunday, October 12, 2008 at the Taybeh Soccer Field, North entrance of Taybeh. If you like to see amazing and extraordinary things just come to Taybeh. As a side note, October 12th was the first Oktoberfest ever held in the world in Bavaria in 1810. The first Rugby Club in Palestine was founded in October 2007 in Beit Jala when a group of young men set up the first Palestinian Rugby Team ( www. more.. e-mail Rugby and local products in Taybeh Palestine News Network 10/2/2008 Maria C. Khoury, Ed. D. - The community of Taybeh is continuing to make history in Palestine this year with the first tag rugby match planned for Oktoberfest. Music and local products will be part of the celebration. Along with introducing the first Palestinian non alcoholic beer at the 2008 Oktoberfest, Taybeh will also host the first time ever Tag Rugby Match in Palestine between the Ramallah Blue Snakes and Beit Jala Lions RFC at 1 pm on Sunday, 12 October 12 at the Taybeh Soccer Field, North entrance of Taybeh. The first Rugby Club in Palestine was founded in October 2007 in Beit Jala when a group of young men set up the first Palestinian Rugby Team (see link) with the help of Kevin Kelleher and Leam O’Brain who continue their current support from Ireland. The team consists of twelve official passionate players from the age of eighteen to twenty-eight. -- See also: www.beitjalalions.com more.. e-mail Celebration of other voices Ayelet Dekel, Ha’aretz 10/3/2008 "My poem is in classic Arabic. I hope someone will understand it," said Wael Ahmad Ammoorah, a Lebanese-Jordanian poet visiting Israel for the first time as part of the three-day Sha’ar International Poetry Festival, which was held last month and organized by Helicon - the Society for the Advancement of Poetry in Israel. Icelandic, Chinese and Dutch were among the languages heard in quick succession as the festival opened with a "world tour" of 14 poets reading in 12 different languages. The auditorium was filled with an audience eager for dialogue, attentive to the music and emotion of the poets’ voices. In the outside courtyard of Tel Aviv’s Inbal Ethnic Theater stood a poetry "tree," with poems hanging from its branches, swaying in the nighttime breeze, beckoning passersby to linger a little and read. more.. e-mail Relationships of self, state and suffering among big questions at new art show Ma’an News Agency 9/29/2008 Bethlehem Maan A cooperative art project titled id - Identity of the Soul is scheduled to have its global debut in Palestine this October. Begun before Darwishs death on 9 August, the show will memorialize the ideas of the poet, who was buried in Ramallah on 13 August amidst throngs of Palestinian and international mourners. Among the central questions to be raised by the performance are those about the individual and their relationship with the state. The multidisciplinary art show combines archival film footage, new cinematic creations, live dance, music and poetry presented on a stage surrounded by five 8x5 meter screens, and inspired by the works of Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, andNorwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The show was put together by the Oslo-based branch of the UK Arts Alliance, and inspired by two principal works. more.. e-mail Cairo-based American acoustic trio wraps up West Bank tour Ma’an News Agency 9/26/2008 Bethlehem Maan The United States Consulate in Jerusalem once again brought an American music act to cities in the West Bank, keeping with its annual Ramadan tradition. This year, the Ramadan program headlined Cairo-based American acoustic trio The Fuuls, which performed its self-described Americana set at live shows in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem. Musicians on guitar, sax, dobro and bass, along with vocalssome new, others borrowed from classic rockers like David Bowie and the Rolling Stoneskicked off the concert portion of the program at an at-capacity public concert in Ramallah on Monday. Post-Iftar performances in Jerusalem and Beit Sahour followed on Tuesday and Wednesday, while workshops were conducted in Nablus and Bethlehem between shows. The bands renditions of rock and country songs intrigued Palestinian audiences at a Tuesday show near Bethlehem. more.. e-mail Classic in a modern tone Rania Khallaf, Al-Ahram Weekly 9/25/2008 Rania Khallaf tunes in to the modern voice of Sayed Darwish - It took only few years for Eskendrella to acquire its fame and an audience. Formed like many other musical groups in Egypt in 2005, the band with its focus on Sayed Darwish and Sheikh Imam Eissa’s music immediately clicked with audiences of all ages. My first encounter with the band was just a few months after their first performance at Saqiyat Al-Sawy. Three years is not a long time to allow for assessment, but one could say that the band has truly succeeded in attracting more and more audiences of all walks of life, including foreigners, in Cairo. The name Eskendrella is a mix of " Eskendria ", the colloquial name for Alexandria, and Cinderella. "We find it an attractive and expressive name. "It tells much about us: we are the Cinderella of modern singing and Eskendria is our beloved city, where Sayed Darwish was born," says Shadi Mo’ness, oud player and one of the founders of the band. more.. e-mail US Fulbrighter promotes peace through music with Palestinian-Israeli band Ma’an News Agency 9/22/2008 Jerusalem -Ma’an/Agencies To cap off his year as a Fulbright-MTV scholar, Aaron Shneyer presided over a special concert at Jerusalems International YMCA on 21 September, International Peace Day. The concert brought together Israeli and Palestinian musicians who participated in Mr. Shneyers Heartbeat Project, conducted with support from the US governments Fulbright program. Under the Heartbeat Project, Mr Shneyer reached out to young Palestinian and Israeli musicians to invite them to joint jam sessions on a weekly basis over the course of many months in order to form a joint Israeli-Palestinian band. Mr Shneyer described the sessions as an opportunity to come together each week to experience and explore music’s power to bring people together and create meaningful social change. He said the young musicians have taught each other makamat and blues scales, they have written. . . more.. e-mail Ethereal entertainment makes its way down Hamra Street Special to The Daily Star, Daily Star 9/4/2008 BEIRUT: You can hear Cie le SAMU making their way along Hamra Street long before you can see them. The jazz music of the four-piece band works its way along the boulevard, swelling the sense of anticipation among the small crowd waiting at the Hamra Center square. A drummer leads three other musicians, trundling her drum-kit along on a specially fitted trolley. Behind her, the three men play brass instruments as they follow behind the beat. As they reach the square, the performance of "A bout de Souffle" truly begins. The musicians sit down beside customers at a neighboring cafe, playing their instruments from the chairs lining the pavement. At this close range, it becomes possible to notice the details in their costumes and the hair that has been powered gray before its time - designed to give an impression of age, which the players played upon repeatedly throughout their performance. more.. e-mail Haredim move to eradicate ’foreign’ pop Matthew Wagner, Jerusalem Post 9/2/2008 Musicians who use rock, rap, reggae and trance influences will not receive rabbinic approval for their CDs, nor will they be allowed to play in wedding halls under haredi kosher food supervision, according to a new, detailed list of guidelines drafted with rabbinical backing that differentiates between "kosher" and "treif" music. The guidelines, which are still being formulated, also ban "2-4 beats and other rock and disco beats;" the "improper" use of electric bass, guitars and saxophones; and singing words from holy sources in a disrespectful, frivolous manner. "Michael Jackson-style music has no place in our community," says Mordechai Bloi, a senior member of the Guardians of Sanctity and Education, an organization based in Bnei Brak that enforces what it sees as normative haredi behavior. "We might be able to adopt Bach or Beethoven, music with class, but not goyishe African music and beats. more.. e-mail The Voice of Mahmoud Darwish Ibtisam Barakat, Middle East Online 8/15/2008 COLUMBIA, Missouri On Saturday August 9th in the afternoon, I was getting ready to give a talk about Palestinian olive trees to a gathering of authors and thinkers at Keystone College in Pennsylvania. For the title of the presentation, I cracked the word olive in two, and turned it into O Live! But death mocked me. Shortly before I left my room for the talk, the phone rang. It was my friend, musician Saed Muhssin, calling me from San Francisco. His voice was deep like a valley, barely climbing up to speak: Have you heard? he asked. This is hard news, he warned. Mahmoud Darwish died today. My mind cried. My heart ached with all of the unhealed Palestinian losses that are recalled with each new losslosses Darwish made sure to record in his poetry. I belong there. I have many memories, Darwish wrote. Memories that he recorded in at least 30 books of poetry and prose, translated into at least 20 languages. more.. e-mail Mahmoud Darwish: Palestinian ’poet of the resistance’ The Independent 8/11/2008 The poet Mahmoud Darwish was the voice of the Palestinian odyssey, whose stark writing reflected the desperation and alienation of the Palestinian people. He published more than 20 collections of poetry, which have been translated into many languages (although few of them into English), and was the Arab world’s best-selling poet. His poems are engraved in the hearts of millions of Palestinians and his words have been shouted by anti-occupation demonstrators in the streets of Ramallah, Damascus and Cairo. Many have been set to music, including "I yearn for my mother’s bread. " Mahmoud Darwish was born in 1941 in al Birweh, an Arab village in the Acre region which became part of the new state of Israel in 1948. His family fled to Lebanon, although they returned the following year. Darwish published his first poetry collection, Asafir bila ajniha ("Wingless Birds", 1960) while still a teenager and soon made a reputation as a "poet of the resistance". more.. e-mail 200 to be married in Khan Younis Mass wedding Ma’an News Agency 7/31/2008 Gaza - Ma’an - A mass wedding, that will see 200 brides and grooms married, will take place in Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening. The event is organised by the Islamic charity association. Ahmed Abu E’layan the Chairman of the Committee supervising the ceremony said, "were eager to carry out this wedding ceremony successfully, it is a great event in Khan Younis. " The celebration will be held at the city’s Tennis Club where scouts will play music for the festival after the prayer at the Grand Mosque in Khan Younis. The organizers called on all Palestinian people living in the Gaza Strip to participate in this huge wedding which is the first of its kind in Khan Younis. more.. e-mail Medical Aid for Palestine Concert in London Mary Rizzo, Palestine Think Tank 7/23/2008 Hear wonderful musicians, have a marvelous night out, and contribute to humanitarian projects that help Palestinian people to develop rehabilitation centres, health care facilities and places of aggregation for youth. MAP siteTUES JULY 29TH @ THE 606 CLUB 7. 30 pm London Call 0207 352 5953 to book a table for dinnerTickets 15 www. 606club. comJoin us for a gala night of eclectic music, gastronomic delights & surprise special guests! Proceeds will go to aid those suffering in Palestine & refugee camps in the region. MAP UK registered charity no: 1045315 Celloman Sensuous, funky flights of melody from an extraordinary cello virtuoso. Ivan Hussey has featured on countless hits & albums including the work of Mick Jagger, Maxi Priest & Incognito. Tonight he performs his stunning, solo set fusing middle-eastern sounds with classical melodies to hair-raising effect. more.. e-mail Improvising to the sound of slamming door Dalila Mahdawi, Daily Star 7/24/2008 BEIRUT: Jazz may not be the first genre that comes to mind when eavesdropping on Beirut’s music scene. An evening stuck in traffic adjacent the city’s multitude of night spots suggests the standard fare ranges from traditional Middle Eastern melodies - from divas like Fairuz and Umm Kulthoum to pop tarts like Haifa Wehbe - to the Western pop, rap and electronica preferred by some younger folk. That said, if you’ve strolled through popular quarters like Hamra or Gemayzeh over the last few months, you may have heard the sound of upbeat, sonorous jazz rhythms percolating from venues like the Zawaya and Blue Note cafes or BarLouie. If so, Beirut Be Bop! may be to blame. The most-recent addition to the city’s venerable tradition of hybrid jazz ensembles, this laidback group has been a mutable musical feast since it first saw the light of day last September. more.. e-mail Palestine Youth Orchestra rehearses for regional tour focusing on Jerusalem Palestine News Network 7/20/2008 Ramallah / PNN - The Palestine Youth Orchestra of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music is in the midst of their training in preparation for a round of musical performances in Palestine, Jordan and Syria. The training is taking place at Ramallah’s Birzeit University in a type of summer camp between 17 and 26 July. For the tour and local performances they will accompany an orchestra from the University of Bonn in Germany. Eighty young musicians are rehearsing a program that will tour regionally under the title, "Jerusalem is the Song. "The Palestine Youth Orchestra has already played three times in Amman, Jordan, culminating in last year’s performance in Bonn. This year will be different because the focus is on Jerusalem. The Director of the Bonn project said, "My mission in Palestine has a different target. more.. e-mail Al Muharraqi painting exhibition in Abu Dhabi Middle East Online 7/16/2008 ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation in association with Meem Gallery, Ghaf Art Gallery and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage, proudly present an exhibition of the works of Abdulla Al Muharraqi, featuring a journey with the artist. Abdulla Al Muharraqi is recognized as being the founding father of Modern Arab Art in The Gulf. Born in Bahrain, his work is held in the highest esteem by the leading collectors throughout the GCC. The artist specializes in depicting local Gulf scenes and traditions, mingling realism with warmth. Muharraqi shares Bahrain and the Gulf with the world through his paintings. Over the years, he has painted more than one thousand oils, seventy of which he keeps as part of his private collection. His works, whether in romantic realism or simple cubism, reflect a style thats instantly recognizable by art connoisseurs. more.. e-mail Living alongside the enemy Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem, The Guardian 7/10/2008 Coexistence projects bring Jews and Arabs together within Israel, but it is much harder to bridge the larger gap between Israel and the Palestinian territories - In the circles of Middle East peacemaking it is called "coexistence", the often difficult and usually pioneering work that brings together Jews and Arabs, treats them as equals and tries to bridge their differences. Within Israel it still happens a lot, despite the terrible violence of the second intifada and the flagging political peace process. There are organisations that run bilingual Jewish-Arabic schools, including one in Jerusalem. There are joint business projects, musical ventures and even comedy shows. In Jaffa, south of Tel Aviv, the small Yaffa cafe and bookshop became the first store in the mixed Jewish and Arab city to sell Arabic books since 1948. more.. e-mail The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah hosts prestigious Marcel Khalife contest this week Ma’an News Agency 7/5/2008 Ramallah Ma’an The Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah is hosting the Marcel Khalife Music Competition this year. 2008 marks the first time in the competition’s history that Arabic song will be included as a category. The song competitions will be held on Sunday 6 July. Other divisions include Arabic instrumental music, piano, winds, strings and guitar. Besides the instrumental and vocal divisions, musicians are divided up in to four groups for age and ability, with participants from ages 6 to 30. Each division has a cash prize of between 100 and 1,000 USD. According to Buthayna Hamdan, media coordinator of the Conservatory, the singing competition could open new horizons for the local music scene, since there are many excellent singers who have not had the chance to be recognized. more.. e-mail Soothing the Savage Breast Sanford F. Kuvin, MIFTAH 7/5/2008 Can music be an instrument for peace? That’s what the Sounding Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival hopes for, as it offers some of the season’s best free live classical music in the city. The festival brings together 75 top European, Israeli and Arab musicians for over 20 concerts to mixed audiences in a wide variety of venues churches in the Old City, historic sites in West Jerusalem and Palestinian villages. In spite of the obvious difficulties entailed in having concerts on both sides of the Green Line, the festival, which runs through 5 July, offers a decent intercultural opportunity for Jews, Christians and Arabs to share the borderless atmosphere of music at its best. The individual behind this initiative is the Austrian cellist Erich Oskar Huetter. With funding from the European Union, this extraordinarily talented musician has embarked on a seemingly mission-impossible task of bringing more.. e-mail Soothing the savage breast Sanford F. Kuvin, Ha’aretz 6/26/2008 Can music be an instrument for peace? That’s what the Sounding Jerusalem Chamber Music Festival hopes for, as it offers some of the season’s best free live classical music in the city. The festival brings together 75 top European, Israeli and Arab musicians for over 20 concerts to mixed audiences in a wide variety of venues - churches in the Old City, historic sites in West Jerusalem and Palestinian villages. In spite of the obvious difficulties entailed in having concerts on both sides of the Green Line, the festival, which runs through July 5, offers a decent intercultural opportunity for Jews, Christians and Arabs to share the borderless atmosphere of music at its best. The individual behind this initiative is the Austrian cellist Erich Oskar Huetter. With funding from the European Union, this extraordinarily talented musician has embarked on a seemingly mission-impossible. . . more.. e-mail Jazz is my Jihad Haitham Sabbah, Palestine Think Tank 6/20/2008 Jazz musician Gilad Atzmon reflects upon his roots and his inspiration and how his activities as a supporter of the Palestinian cause and his art influence one another. His music can be seen as an integral part of his political message. It’s not sloganeering or repeating formulas, but it can be seen as a weaving and unweaving of threads, digging into the reservoir of personal and collective dreams, hopes and fears. This British documentary, "Jazz is my Jihad" presents a viewpoint into the artistic and personal journey undertaken by Gilad Atzmon. [end] American rapper Snoop Dogg slated to perform in Ramat Gan Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 6/13/2008 The demand for foreign stars to perform in Israeli venues is rising, and this demand is being met by local entertainment producers and accompanied by high ticket prices. A wave of American artists is meant to arrive in Israel this summer and upcoming fall to perform before a music-thirsty Israeli audience. According to his official website, world renowned rapper Snoop Dogg is due to perform in Israel on September 18th. Snoop Dogg joins an impressive list of foreign stars that have either visited Israel over the past year or are scheduled to arrive in the coming months. R eports have indicated that the American rapper signed a contract with an Israeli agent who lives abroad, but still tried to extract higher offers from local entertainment producers in Israel. The Ramat Gan stadium where Snoop Dogg is expected to perform declined comment. more.. e-mail Thousands attend 10th annual Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 6/7/2008 Gay Pride paradeThousands of people attended the tenth annual Gay Pride Parade in Tel Aviv Friday, to celebrate the gay community’s struggle for equality and to christen the center for the gay community situated in the city’s Meir park (Gan Meir). "The center symbolizes an amazing turning point in the history of the gay community, and our activities will now have fertile ground from which to grow and flourish," Army Radio quoted one of the parade participants as saying. The Tel Aviv municipality donated NIS 250,000 for the event, which was scheduled to commence at 12 P. M. at Gan Meir. The parade was then to head out toward Bograshov Street, turning onto Ben Yehuda Steet, then Ben Gurion Boulevard and finally ending at Gordon beach, where a host of musicians such as Ivri Lider, Maya Buskila and Keren Peles were set to perform followed by a party on into the night. more.. e-mail World Council of Churches to create living clock: 60 minutes for 60 years of Al Nakba Palestine News Network 6/6/2008 Bethlehem / PNN - Beginning at 6:30 pm on Sunday, the World Council of Churches will host what it refers to as a "Living Clock." A circle will be created in Manager Square between the Church of Nativity and the Bethlehem Mosque marking 60 years of Al Nakba. At least that many people will be in attendance, creating 60 minutes for 60 years. The World Council of Churches program follows:The arrival and setup: 18:301. Loudspeaker: music It’s Time for Palestine 2. People carrying numbers 1-60 form a circle, with the numbers 41 and 60 colored in red. To form the circle they initially hold each other’s hand. The central point of the clock is indicated on the ground with chalk. We will care that different ages are represented in the circle. 3. 20-23 more people will form a hand, carrying the letters It’s Time for Palestine. more.. e-mail Rolling with the Na Nachs, the most high-spirited and newest Hasidic sect Adam Molner, Ha’aretz 5/25/2008 There is no escaping them. They have left their mark everywhere in Israel, in the form of a cryptic mantra painted in bold Hebrew lettering on security fences, sleek skyscrapers, graveyard walls, freeway billboards and sheer mountain cliffs. Dressed in characteristic woven white skullcaps, adherents perform leaping dances on street corners in the secular bastion of Tel Aviv, to techno-Hassidic music blasting from vans bearing the slogan "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Me’uman," which has informally lent its name to the newest of Hasidic sects. The Na Nachs, as some of the group call themselves, are an offshoot of the Bratslav Hassidim, followers of the late Rebbe Nachman (1772-1810), great-grandson of the founder of Hasidism. But what separates Na Nachs from other Bratslavers is their belief that a mysterious letter found in 1962 by Rabbi Israel. . . more.. e-mail Bethlehem University student elections: Fateh clear winner before polls even opened Palestine News Network 4/16/2008 Kristen Ess - The polls finally closed as of late Wednesday afternoon in the most obnoxious student elections to date at Bethlehem University. Fateh won 18 seats and gunshots were fired as students cheered and music blasted in the streets. Days upon days of students chanting, "Shabiba, Shabiba, Shabiba!" the Fateh Youth Party, in the streets and on campus, have left the university district with a collective headache. They are taking full advantage of the larger current political strife. Students are walking through neighbor’s gardens, sporting their party gear. Since early this morning the University has blasted disco music. They are still shouting, "Shabiba!" Palestinian Authority security has the streets cordoned off. The Hamas party boycotted the entire affair. Certainly they knew they had no chance at winning, considering the international campaign against the party at large. more.. e-mail ADACH presents live tribute to Arabic music Middle East Online 4/16/2008 ABU DHABI - The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) organizes for the first time ever in the Emirati capital, a festival of Arabic music which will be held May 1-6, 2008 at the Cultural Foundation. The ADACH has chosen 2008 as the first year of a modest beginning, which aims to offer an eclectic mix of sounds and styles from a uniquely complex musical heritage. The ADACH aims to make the festival an annual event, to expand and ensure the artistic calendar of every music lover in the Arab World includes Abu Dhabi every May. The first evening belongs to Omar Khairat, the second to the Al Fayha Choir, the third to Furat Qaddouri and Tariq & Julia Banzi, the fourth to Jahida Wehbe, the fifth to Rida Popular Arts Group and Nadia Mustafa and the final evening to Farida. Encompassing a history of more than two thousand years, the music of the Arabs is unique among the world’s various musical cultures. more.. e-mail Ramallah hair show defies occupation Kristen Ess, Palestine News Network 4/9/2008 The beat goes on in a Ramallah hair show, but without Gaza. The stage is filled with young women having their hair cut by what many consider to be artists. The announcer is shouting to be heard over the pounding disco music, "This is Palestine!" The stylist on display is from Nablus. There are people at this hair show, invite only, from inside the 1948, Israeli, boundaries, from Syria’s occupied Golan Heights even. But the Gazans did not come. They were not allowed. It’s a hair show, a fashion show; it’s something to ensure that more people who care about hair cuts, and a certain semblance of normalcy, might have work as the economy continues to plummet due to Israeli occupation measures. The director of the entire program takes a minute from his front row seat to speak about what is the point of this event. more.. e-mail Marcel Khalifa and Edward Said Conservatory support Palestinian music scene Palestine News Network 3/21/2008 PNN -- The Marcel Khalifa annual competition is accepting applications for July 2008. Although many Palestinians cannot attend the competition due to Israeli-imposed travel restrictions, musicians are finding their way around it. "We will use a closed circuit television system for the musicians who are not allowed to enter Jerusalem: those from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as musicians from the Golan Heights," representatives of the Edward Said Conservatory of Music announced on Friday. The Conservatory was established in 1993 and has centers in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah with some 550 students. They study classical, eastern and western styles of music. This year’s competition will include several categories in this prestigious event, including Eastern, Piano, Strings and Guitar. New to the categories this year is Arabic Singing. more.. e-mail Striking an ancient chord Hagai Hitron, Ha’aretz 2/14/2008 Sounds, archaeological finds and scientific hypotheses all play major roles in an exhibition entitled "Sounds of Ancient Music," which opened last week at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. Focusing on musical developments in ancient Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria and other cultures of the Ancient Near East, through the periods of the Kingdom of Judea, Greece and the Roman Empire, the exhibition features 137 objects - among them, rare musical instruments that have been preserved from antiquity, as well as full-sized replicas of instruments from those early eras. Among other items on display are a flute, fragments of which were discovered in a burial cave in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem and dating back to the Second Temple period, as well as the well-known stone from that same period bearing the inscription, "To the House of Trumpeting to the k. more.. Israeli universities cease researching Palestinian musicology Tamara Traubmann, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008 Professors emeritae Dalia Cohen and Ruth Katz began studying Palestinian music in the 1960s. While Israel’s Arab population was still under military rule, they traveled to the villages of the Galilee and the Triangle and recorded performances of traditional music. The music was passed down in an oral tradition and was rarely written down. In their laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the musicologists developed the Jerusalem, or Cohen-Katz, Melograph. This mechanical musical transcription device created a graph that provided precise information about the pitch, duration and volume of sounds. "Notation is a Western system of writing that refers to Western musical materials," Cohen explains. "Most non-Western cultures do not have a notation system, and we don’t know exactly what the raw materials of the music are." more.. With medieval manuscripts forgotten, musicology goes into in drug rehab Tamara Traubmann, Ha’aretz 1/24/2008 Professors emeritae Dalia Cohen and Ruth Katz began studying Palestinian music in the 1960s. While Israel’s Arab population was still under military rule, they traveled to the villages of the Galilee and the Triangle and recorded performances of traditional music. The music was passed down in an oral tradition and was rarely written down. In their laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the musicologists developed the Jerusalem, or Cohen-Katz, Melograph. This mechanical musical transcription device created a graph that provided precise information about the pitch, duration and volume of sounds." Notation is a Western system of writing that refers to Western musical materials," Cohen explains. "Most non-Western cultures do not have a notation system, and we don’t know exactly what the raw materials of the music are." more.. Palestinian hip-hop doc premieres at Sundance Agence France Presse - AFP, Daily Star 1/22/2008 PARK CITY, Utah: The Palestinian hip-hop group DAM, which has spawned a cult following and a small army of imitators, stars in a new film about the underground music scene in the Middle East, which premiered on Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. "Slingshot Hip Hop," by director Jackie Salloum, offers a peek into contemporary life in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, as well as the Middle East hip-hop culture inspired by the political positions of American rappers such as Chuck D, Tupac Shakur and Eminem. Rapper Mahmoud Shalabi, from the village of Akka, is featured in the documentary, as is female hip-hop duo Arapeyat. The movie also highlights the work of the group Palestinian Rapperz (PR) among others. In the film, Palestinian rap groups offer an alternative form of resistance against the Israeli occupation. Some critics suggest that the new music simply reinforces longstanding cultural differences. more.. Local music man picks up where war cut him off Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Daily Star 1/11/2008 Interview BEIRUT: The Lebanese capital is littered with the remains of young companies and upstart arts initiatives that broke up and fell apart during the war with Israel 18 months ago. One of the more obvious among them is the Beirut edition of Time Out, the monthly arts and entertainment magazine that published its first issue in April 2006 and its last in July 2006. The young magazine ceased publication when the bombardment and siege began and never resumed. Another casualty, less commonly commented upon but similar in that funders fleeing the country precipitated its closure, is the local music label Mooz Records, which was the hottest thing happening in Beirut two years ago and is now no more - though the spirit behind it might just be revived next week with the debut of a monthly music festival dubbed Beirut Is A-Live. more.. Jumping into cold water Tamar Sukenik, Ha’aretz 1/3/2008 Last week the character played by Mira Awad appeared for the first time on Sayed Kashua’s "Arab Labor" TV series on Channel 2. But the attention of the 32-year-old actress is already focused elsewhere. In guitarist Amos Hadani’s small studio in downtown Tel Aviv she is completing the recording of her debut album, which will comprise songs whose lyrics and music she has written herself, mostly in Arabic. The long road she has traveled until arriving at the final stages of the album began during her days as a student at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Ramat Hasharon. "Eight years ago I already had demos ready and I tried to interest several people in them. But it didn’t really work out, and at a certain stage I got tired of trying and abandoned music for a number of years," she recalls. more.. Jerusalem YMCA organizes cultural festival to celebrate coexistence in the capital Ha’aretz 12/7/2007 A cultural festival celebrating coexistence in Jerusalem set to coincide with Hanukkah, Christmas and Eid El Acha opened yesterday and will run in the capital through the end of the month. The festival, organized by the city’s YMCA, includes a number of theatrical events, musical performances and circus acts in English, with events in Hebrew and Arabic, as well. The schedule for the festival, which will also include a performance by David Broza, is available at www. jerusalemymca. org. (Daphna Berman) [end] Music is the medicine Tamar Sukenik, Ha’aretz 9/25/2007 Eight years after he decided to boycott Israel due to the occupation, Greek singer George Dalaras is back. It’s his fifth visit, one week this time, including performances in Tel Aviv and Caesarea. Dalaras, 58, began his musical career in Greece at the age of 16 and has released around 130 albums (12 million copies sold worldwide). His first concert of three is tonight at Tel Aviv’s Mann Auditorium. On Sunday he visited the south Tel Aviv open clinic of Doctors for Human Rights (PHR) and tried to clarify that he had never spoken out against Israel. He said that "in a place like Israel, where so much pain has been caused to both sides, it’s impossible to appear solely to provide enjoyment. "In a place where families disintegrate and youths are killed, it would have been strange if I would have come and let people dance and enjoy without addressing the general atmosphere. more.. Beirut Street Festival opens three-month helping of culture Suzan Crile, Daily Star 9/10/2007 BEIRUT: For the past three years, the Beirut Street Festival has been celebrating art and culture by bringing performance to the street. The fourth annual edition kicked off on Sunday and continues the tradition with three months of theater, dance, music, installations and workshops all over the capital." No one performance will be like the next," says Mustapha Yamout, referring to the many Lebanese and international actors, artists, stilt walkers, moving statues and dancers scheduled to perform in the coming months. Yamout (aka Zico) is a founder of Zico House, the cultural association that has been organizing the festival for the past three years in association with the Ministry of Culture. On a personal level, Yamout says he is particularly happy with the festival this year because there is so much local participation. more.. The third Taybeh Oktoberfest Ghassan Bannoura NEWS, International Middle East Media Center 9/10/2007 Over the weekend of September 8th and 9th the village of Taybeh just north of the central West Bank city of Ramallah held its third annual Oktoberfest. The Festival provided food, music, local produce and crafts and, of course, the wonderful Taybeh beer, the first beer to be produced in Palestine and which is now exported around the world. The village of Taybeh is the home to a population of 3,000 mainly Christian Palestinians. It is reached by roads which wind up the hills from the valleys below to where it stands looking across the Jordan Valley and into Jordan itself and. It was encouraging to see the number of people who had made it there from all over Palestine despite the problems caused by Israeli Army checkpoints. From Ramallah it is a 30 minute car journey to Taybeh where one is assured of the typical warm welcome and atmosphere of a Palestinian village. more.. Lebanon proves to be rocky ground for rock’n’roll Bojan Preradovic, Daily Star 8/24/2007 Beirut’s performing artists talk about working in the Paris of the Middle East and the lure of the region’s Vegas - BEIRUT: Lebanon’s social and political fabric were not the only victims of last summer’s 34-day Israeli onslaught. Seemingly irreparable damage was done to the country’s fledgling rock music and performance scene as well. There’s some irony in this. Lebanese artists may have an ambiguous relationship to the country’s perennial volatility, but it has been the bread and butter of local rock musicians. Their lamentations are imbued with such themes as lost faith, resentment, and disenchantment with the social milieu. Before the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, Beirut nurtured a respectable roster of longstanding rock groups - with Blend, Negative, Soul Active, Scrambled Eggs, Soap Kills, and April Ash, to name a few. more.. A memoir of a war in 33 parts, soundtrack included Jim Quilty, Daily Star 8/22/2007 Interview - BEIRUT: Nev Mountford says it’s all about giving folks a voice. Last summer’s Israeli onslaught against Lebanon has yet to be named - there’s still some disagreement, in fact, as to whether it lasted for 33 days or 34 - but that hasn’t hindered the flood of cultural production it has generated over the last year or so. One of these is "33 Days Last Summer," a Web-based multi-media project devoted to documenting individual Lebanese reactions to the summer war that’s been conducted by the UK-based trust Picture People, aka Nevil Mountford. The "33 Days" project has a simple premise. Mountford’s been going around Beirut with a video camera, asking people what music they were listening to during the war, recording their responses and requesting a sample of the tune. more.. Yiddish rap stirs controversy in Israel Yoav Friedman, YNetNews 8/18/2007 Album by Bnei Brak rappers featuring Yiddish versions to pop songs by Madonna, 50 Cent prompts boycott by rabbis, despite enormous popularity - Two haredi musicians from Bnei Brak recorded a Yiddish cover album giving international hits a strictly-Orthodox twist by using lyrics that bear a religious meaning. The album, titled Rap in Yiddish, was recorded in the United States and quickly became a smash hit among the community. Rap in Yiddish Covers of Madonna’s "La Isla Bonita" and 50 Cent’s "In da Club" can be found on the album. The Bnei Brak boys did not leave out Israeli creation and the piece "Tnu lo chance" (give him a chance) by the local trio Ma Kashur can also be found in a more religious version. The success the album has achieved overseas has not yet hit Israel. more.. Epic play draws parallels between past and present Adam Jewell, Daily Star 8/17/2007 REVIEW - BYBLOS: "History is a mirror of the future," says Oussama Rahbani. "If you don’t have a history, you don’t have a future." It was with this notion of embracing the past in order to greet the future that Lebanese composer Mansour Rahbani, in collaboration with his sons Marwan, Oussama, and Ghady Rahbani, created the epic musical "Zenobia," which opened a five-night run on Wednesday evening for the Byblos International Festival, in the old port city north of Beirut. Though in many ways a tragedy, ending in defeat and suicide, the play is at heart a celebration - of culture, music and freedom, and, perhaps more forcefully, of the strength, determination and ferocity of the female spirit. What makes "Zenobia" enveloping and believable is the plot’s adherence to the play’s historical foundation. more.. Gaza voices BBC Online 8/3/2007 Three Palestinians - a musician, a private sector employee and ajournalist - describe life in Gaza. - There have been some minor clashes between Islamic Jihad and Hamas in Rafah, but today all of Gaza is busy with the secondary school exam results, which have just come out. The girl with the best results in all of the Gaza Strip is here in Rafah; she’s one of my neighbours. But with the economic situation, I doubt she can do much. The Hamas government has said it will sponsor 10 students through university. Life under Hamas is OK. I am the only one working in my family, I have six younger brothers at school. Basically, I’m supporting the family. My father spent 12 years in Israeli jails. He’s out now, but he’s not getting any money because he’s a Palestinian Authority employee. more.. Machon Shilo publishes Ninth of Av dirge for Gush Katif Ynetnews, YNetNews 7/22/2007 Dirge commemorates evacuation of settlements, destruction of Gush Katif communities and is to be recited as part of service in memory of Temple’s destruction Machon Shilo has published a dirge ("kinna") for the destroyed communities of Gush Katif and the northern Samaria. The dirge is to be recited as part of the Jewish Ninth of Av Service that commemorates the destruction of the first and second Jewish Temples on this day, by the Babylonians in 586 BCE and by the Romans in 70 CE. The Jewish Communities of Gush Katif and northern Samaria were destroyed on the Tenth of Av in 2005" the very same day, according to the Talmud, that the greater part of the Temple was destroyed. The dirge, authored by Rav Yehoshua Buch of Machon Shilo, is written in the style of Rabbi Eliezer HaKalir, the 6th century composer of liturgical poetry. more.. Dozens of classical musicians issue joint peace manifesto Noam Ben Ze'ev, Ha’aretz 7/18/2007 For the first time in the history of academic and musical life in Israel, dozens of musicians, scholars and educators from the field of classical music have come out with a joint call against the occupation and in favor of peace, rapprochement and a two-state solution. "We protest the prolonged occupation that is destroying our country’s image," declare the signatories in a written statement. "Our continued control over the territories and their Palestinian inhabitants is morally wrong. The only positive option is an attempt to conduct responsible negotiations with Hezbollah, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, Lebanon and Syria." The document will be read publicly for the first time at a modern electronic and live music concert, scheduled to coincide with the ninth issue of "Tav Plus," the music and society periodical edited by Dr. more.. Islamic art exhibition to open in London Middle East Online 7/10/2007 The exhibition will be open until the end of August -- Collection of 165 precious objects from ninth to 19th century will be displayed in British capital. - LONDON - A collection of Islamic art featuring precious objects from the ninth to the 19th centuries is set to be opened in London on Thursday by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, named after the spiritual head of Ismaili Muslims. The collection of 165 objects, shown to the press Monday, comes from regions as far apart as India to the east and Morocco to the west, depicts the general outlines of Islamic art’s refinement and diversity over 10 centuries. Persian miniatures, pages of calligraphy from the Koran, ceramics, medical tools and musical instruments show different aspects of Islamic culture. more.. Palestinian youths listen to song mocking Fatah and Hamas on their mobile phones Ma’an News Agency 7/7/2007 Gaza Ma’an Palestinians youths in the West Bank and Gaza Strip can listen to a one-and-a-half minute song on their mobile phones slamming both Fatah and Hamas. The producer of the song refused to reveal his identity for fear of both movements. The new song uses rap music, it demands Palestinian leaders to either solve their problems or leave the Palestinian people alone." Either you solve it or leave us Government and presidency have aroused the fire of dispute Oh Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the Palestinian people are suffering from the civil war." The song derides the Palestinian rival parties and says that their dispute revolved around power rather than Palestinian interests. [end] N.Y. Times: Idan Raichel disc among ’most notable albums’ Haaretz Service, Ha’aretz 7/2/2007 A senior music critic for The New York Times has named Cumbancha, a recent album by the Idan Raichel Project of Israel, among "the most notable world music CDs released over the last year." The list of 14 albums compiled by Jon Pareles includes discs from Ghana, Brazil, Romania and the Comoros Islands. "The Idan Raichel Project was a huge hit in Israel for good reason: it envisions a modern, multicultural nation where voices of young and old, Ethiopian and Yemenite, are all heard in songs devoted to love and tolerance," Pareles wrote at the weekend. According to Pareles, keyboardist and songwriter Raichel is "clearly as familiar with Peter Gabriel as with Middle Eastern traditions. His arrangements bind the voices together in somber minor-mode anthems paced by electronic beats, earnestly seeking to uplift. more.. Difficult times have more and more jazz musicians singing the Beirut blues Faced with low attendance and canceled shows, artists in the, Daily Star 6/26/2007 BEIRUT: Aboud Saadi used to cram his schedule with five or six live performances a week. The 53-year-old bassist has gone into the studio numerous times with the likes of Fairouz and Ziad Rahbani, but he is best known as one of the godfathers of Beirut’s jazz scene and a regular fixture on the stages of the city’s jazz clubs and music halls. A year ago, he was playing almost every night. Now he is playing once a week. With the Arthur Satyan Trio alone, Saadi used to play every Thursday through Saturday night at the Habtoor Grand Hotel’s live music lounge, Up on the 31st. But now the trio, led by Armenian pianist Arthur Satyan and drummer Fouad Afra, is playing only on Saturdays. Those shows are Saadi’s only steady gig. The spate of bombings that began a month ago has drastically reduced the amount of live music on offer in Beirut. more.. Gnaoua festival draws tens of thousands By Mohammed Chakir - ESSAOUIRA, Morocco, Middle East Online 6/22/2007 The festival has the energy and the vibe of Woodstock - 25 Gnaoua groups performing in music annual festival in picturesque Moroccan fishing town of Esssaouira. - "The Gnaoua festival is the Islamic Woodstock where one sings of the glory of God and dances without fanaticism, bearded men and veiled women," said Ismail Khaldi. The music festival in the picturesque Moroccan fishing town of Esssaouira, some 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of the capital Rabat, hosts the annual festival which began 10 years ago. This year, the opening was attended by more than 10,000 people - many who came from afar - providing extra money for locals like Khaldi, who works at a hotel. More than 500,000 visitors - many from overseas - are expected to see the show in the coming days. more.. Austrian cellist launches "Sounding Jerusalem" season; "music to unite people" Ma’an News Agency 6/14/2007 Bethlehem - Ma’an - "Music unites people - as long as it is offered to them," declares a press release for the "Sounding Jerusalem" Chamber Music Festival 2007. The brainchild of Austrian cellist and festival director Erich Oskar Huetter, "Sounding Jerusalem" has organized a series of concerts by renowned European and Middle Eastern musicians over a two-week period: June 22nd through July 7th. Concerts will be concentrated in the old city of Jerusalem but will also include venues in Israeli West Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank. Selected venues, such as the Mount of Olives amphitheatre and the Armenian patriarchate, demonstrate the city’s rich cultural and historical ambience. Concertgoers are invited to join an open community in which, "nothing else but music was meant to be the common language; fascinating... more.. Learning centres help restore hope for Palestinian adolescents Source: United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF, ReliefWeb 6/6/2007 RAFAH, Occupied Palestinian Territory, 6 June 2007– -- On a daily basis, the rights of children and adolescents in the West Bank and Gaza – including their rights to education and to play – are compromised by the effects of closures, disruption of schooling and deteriorating living standards in the context of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there is some respite at the Ajyal Al Mustakbal (or ‘Future Generation’) Centre in Rafah, where adolescents come to learn literacy and computer skills. They also have the opportunity to engage in sports, music, drama and life-skills education. The club serves at least 1,000 adolescents from three remote neighbourhoods in Rafah: Shaboura, Kherbet Al Adass and Al Zuhur. more.. Rapper Belly releases Revolution Middle East Online 6/7/2007 Palestinian-Canadian rapper addresses issues of war, racial tensions, poverty, hypocrisy in politics. -- TORONTO, Canada - With three successful mixtapes under his belt and after almost a decade as a hip hop producer and songwriter, Ottawa rapper Belly finally releases his much anticipated double album debut The Revolution on CP Records/Fontana North. His debut features powerful tracks that deal with political and social issues. Belly uses his music to get people talking about problems like violence, war, racial and religious tensions, poverty, and hypocrisy in politics. He is also proud of his culture, and is trying to dispel negative stereotypes with his music. Belly is already a bona fide hip-hop artist in North America; The Revolution features collaborations with heavyweights like Scarface, Ginuwine, and Kurupt, to name a few. more.. Parisian bookshop holds a week of cultural events dedicated to revealing the reality of Palestinian life Ma’an News Agency 5/22/2007 Bethlehem - Ma’an - A bookshop in Paris, France is holding a special week of Palestinian cultural events this week. The bookshop, Librairie Rsistances, is hosting Palestinian photographer Steve Sabella and poet Najwan Darwish, both coming especially from Jerusalem for the events, in addition to the Palestinian painter Kamal Boullata, who lives in exile in the south of France. From Tuesday 22 May to Saturday 26 May, the bookshop is holding meetings, exhibitions, films, poetry and music dedicated to exposing the human reality of life in the occupied Palestinian territories, and for Palestinians living in exile. According to the event organisers, the week will be opened in the presence of the French Consulate in Jerusalem’s Cultural Attach, Mr Robert Horn, and the Palestinian general delegate to France, Mrs Hind Khoury. more.. Fashion under Adversity Elie W. Hanna, International Middle East Media Center 5/17/2007 Despite the wounds, there is space for art -- Sitting among the audience awaiting the event to take place, I could not but have a smile on my face as I recalled the wording on the invitation. Haute Couture just did not sound right in this forsaken part of the world. Yet, I was there... the music began and models paraded out amidst the avid applause from the audience. What was most eye-catching was the use of Palestinian embroidery in the making of the gowns an amazing way, I thought, to preserve Palestinian heritage. The event itself is the culmination of the Institutes two-year program that cultivates talents in fashion design. Upon completion of the program, students receive a certificate from the Palestinian Ministry of Labor that enables them to pursue work in this field. more.. Thousands of youth turn out in Tel Aviv to mark May Day Haaretz Service and Agencies, Ha’aretz 5/2/2007 Some 4,000 members of Israeli socialist youth groups turned out in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for a march to mark May Day. The marchers set off from Rabin Square for the plaza outside Tel Aviv Museum. Another rally to mark the day was held at the Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, where musicians and members of social action groups gathered. Czech police in the Moravian city of Brno used teargas and bats Tuesday broke up one of the biggest neo-Nazi rallies in the country so far, Czech news agency CTK reported. Some 600 people had gathered for what was an authorized May Day event. But Brno authorities banned the gathering after unconstitutional symbols had been displayed, reports said. When right-wing radicals began to throw stones and bottles, police broke up the crowd by force. more.. Thousands of youth turn out in Tel Aviv to mark May Day Haaretz Service and Agencies, Ha’aretz 5/2/2007 Some 4,000 members of Israeli socialist youth groups turned out in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for a march to mark May Day. The marchers set off from Rabin Square for the plaza outside Tel Aviv Museum. Another rally to mark the day was held at the Cinematheque in Tel Aviv, where musicians and members of social action groups gathered. Czech police in the Moravian city of Brno used teargas and bats Tuesday broke up one of the biggest neo-Nazi rallies in the country so far, Czech news agency CTK reported. Some 600 people had gathered for what was an authorized May Day event. But Brno authorities banned the gathering after unconstitutional symbols had been displayed, reports said. When right-wing radicals began to throw stones and bottles, police broke up the crowd by force. more.. Musical comedy on West Bank wins Oscar for best live action short film Middle East Online 3/5/2007 Director of West Bank Story says comedy sets to present positive, balanced position in support of peace. -- A short musical comedy about rival Palestinian and Israeli falafel stands in the West Bank was awarded the Oscar for best live action short film Sunday. "Oh my God," Ari Sandel, the director of "West Bank Story," said in accepting the award. "I made a comedy, a musical about Israelis and Palestinians that takes place between two falafel stands in the West Bank. It’s a movie about peace and hope." "To get this award goes to show that there are so many people who support that notion," said the California-born director, adding that the aspiration for peace was not "hopeless." more.. 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival, 23 February - 4 March Electronic Intifada/NYASAFF 2/16/2007 The 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival (NYASAFF) presents the best in recent features, docs, & shorts that increase awareness of the creative vitality and sociopolitical realities of North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and their diasporas. Given the historical and cultural affinities between these geographic regions, as well as the contemporary political landscape, several cultural and media organizations, including Alwan for the Arts, 3rd i NY, South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, and Downtown Community Television have launched a collaborative series encompassing film, video, music, visual art, and literature, that will culminate in the annual, NYASA Film Festival running from February 23 - March 4, 2007. more.. Young artists from the Music Club honored in Nablus Palestine News Network 1/14/2007 Under the auspices of Director of Education Ahmed Ismail, the activities of the Music Club were completed. Running April through October 2006, and a bit longer due to strikes, the club was replete with all types of young artists, with prizes distributed in drama, painting and music. The students with the most creative vision were given the highest honors. The Music Club was held at the Technical School for Girls in Nablus with the funding and organization provided by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and UNICEF. At the graduation ceremony teachers, students and their parents, and visiting artists spoke of the importance of developing the creative talents of students. [end] Mental music’ processes emotion of a 34-day war By Kaelen Wilson-Goldi, Daily Star 1/11/2007 Interview -- BEIRUT: Jawad Nawfal, aka Munma, creates an usual summer soundtrack full of ambient, ethereal and heavily digitized compositions -- "Aequo was structured like drum ’n’ bass with weird time signatures. AEX was the dance music incarnation of Aequo. It was closer to the public, to techno and to house. It was 4/4," says Jawad Nawfal, 29, in reference to the standardized time signature for dance music that keeps people moving in night clubs due to its regular, driving beats. "Munma is closer to Aequo, but it’s the only project that has oriental influences and sounds." Nawfal pauses to play back his latest adventure in electronic music in his head. "The rhythmic construction is more oriental. You know, tum tak taka taka tak," he explains, sounding out that rhythmic construction as he taps it out softly on the cafe table in front of him. more.. Lebanon’s music scene had to roll with the punches By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie, Daily Star 12/29/2006 War derailed the country’s famous festivals but couldn’t silence its determined performers -- 2006: THE YEAR IN music -- BEIRUT: It is probably safe to say that political turmoil damages Beirut’s music scene more deeply than it does any other scene, particularly when it comes to bringing international talent to town. Musicians, after all, need to be flown in, put up and paid. They need to insure their equipment, obtain visas and be guaranteed enough time for an adequate sound check. Even before the war with Israel broke out in July, Lebanon’s three major summer music festivals - Baalbek, Beiteddine and Byblos - were reportedly struggling to keep their schedules intact. Those schedules were eclectic to begin with - Deep Purple at Baalbek, Liza Minnelli at Beiteddine, Barbara Hendricks singing jazz standards opera-style at Byblos... more.. Palestinian musicians wins the Welfare Association’s "Excellence Award" at charity dinner in Dubai Ma’an News Agency 12/12/2006 The Welfare Association, a Palestinian non-governmental organization committed to promoting sustainable development in the Palestinian areas, also known as ’Ta’awun’ in the Arab world, presented the ’Excellence’ award to a Palestinian musician and General Director of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music on Thursday 30 November 2006 in Dubai. According to a press release from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (ESNCM), Suhail Khoury received the Welfare Association "Excellence" Award "for his musical creativity and for his distinctive efforts in developing the ESNCM over the years". The award is presented to prominent individuals world-wide who have shown distinction in the human, cultural, and science fields. more.. Improvising a new instrumental language Daily Star 11/25/2006 Review - Khalife reproduces Darwish’s poetry with music -- BEIRUT: Marcel Khalife’s latest album "Taqasim" consists of just three tracks, all of them untitled, instrumental and around 20 minutes in length. The first opens with mournfully low scales - a surprise to faithful listeners, as the oud does not traditionally linger in such deep registers. But as "Taqasim" brings Khalife’s total musical output to over 15 recordings, he can probably be forgiven for being intentionally unconventional. A dense resonance characterizes all the musical passages that follow those first booming progressions. The oud feeds off the pulsating rumbles of an upright bass, the percussion adds sparse accents and sensitive microphones amplify every detail. Each instrument resounds to the hilt... more.. Call for Work: PERIFRICO - Sounds from Beyond the Bubble Electronic Intifada 11/5/2006 Sonic Arts Network invites submissions for its critically acclaimed CD series. Curated by Angolan/Portuguese composer Victor Gama, "PERIFRICO - sounds from beyond the bubble", will be a selection of works by experimental composers that work outside of western culture. Musicians/composers/artists that work within cultures and traditions outside of the western world are invited to submit one or two samples of their work for a CD publication to be released by Sonic Arts Network, UK, in Spring 2007. We are particularly looking for experimental and innovative musicians/composers that create work that reconstructs the knowledge and value systems of the culture they come from whilst resisting influence from the west. more.. Dance Freedom: El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Company’s 2006 US Tour Electronic Intifada/El-Funoun 11/1/2006 World-renowned Palestinian dance troupe El-Funoun to tour the US -- El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe was established in 1979 by a small number of enthusiastic, talented and committed artists. Since then, El-Funoun has been throned as the lead Palestinian dance company. In Palestine, as well as among Palestinians in exile, El-Funoun has achieved an unprecedented popular recognition; in fact, quite a few of the Troupe’s songs and dances have become household tunes. Since its inception, El-Funoun has aimed at expressing the spirit of Arab-Palestinian folklore and contemporary culture through unique combinations of traditional and stylized dance and music. The Troupe’s repertoire comprises folkloric dance forms, called "dabke", in addition to more elaborate choreographed forms... [includes tour itinerary and schedule] more.. The street cred of Gaza By Avi Issacharoff, Ha'aretz 9/21/2006 GAZA - Rapper D. R. (Dynamic Rapper) enters an upscale restaurant in the city center in the early afternoon. A beautiful young American woman named Jackie escorts him to the table and sits with him. He is full of smiles and high-fives, and his black eyes peek out above the rims of his fashionable sunglasses. Everyone here knows him. He is very skinny, wears a sleeveless shirt and low-riding Bermudas that look like they could fall down at any moment; on his head is a red baseball cap over a hairnet, not unlike rapper 50 Cent - and on his feet are sneakers, obviously." I don't want to imitate the Americans; I'm a proud Palestinian," says D. R. , a. k. a. Mohammed al-Faraa. The place: Gaza City. The restaurant - Ma'atuk, on Omar al-Mukhtar street, next to the Hezbollah support tent set up by Islamic Jihad. more.. Recent Cultural Events in Occupied Palestine Palestine News Network 6/12/2006 Theatre: Hada Msh Ellak performed at the Fawanees Theatre and Ashkalan Theatre at Al Meshaal Centre in Gaza, 11:00 Thursday June 1st through Friday June 30th / Safad-Shatilla performed at the Ashtar Theatre in Ramallah, 19:30 Saturday June 3rd (English) and Sunday June 4th (Arabic)... Dance: Dabka by the Jerusalem Folklore Dance Group at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem, 19:00 Sunday June 18th / We Are Here modern dance by the YWCA at the Palestinian National Theatre in Jerusalem, 19:30 Sunday June 25th... Music: "Hada leil by Basel Zayed with the Turab Group at the Ramallah Cultural Palace, 19:30 Saturday June 3rd / Magnificat Institute Jasmine Choir at the St. Saviours Convent Immaculata Hall in Jerusalem, 18:00 Sunday June 4th... more.. Music says "No"! La Fte de la Musique / World Music Day is marked in the Palestinian territories Ma'an News 6/19/2006 Ramallah -- Every year on the 21st of June more than two hundred and fifty countries all over the world celebrate World Music Day, an idea which was first invented by the French Minister Jack Num in 1981. This year Palestine will be taking part in this event. In Ramallah, events will be taking place to mark "La Fte de la Musique" at the Al-Kamandjti music centre in cooperation with the French Cultrual Center. The idea was born because the situation in the Palestinian territories makes the world consider the Palestinians as terrorists and this is a good opportunity to prove that the Palestinians are peaceful people, who play music and know how to love rather than how to throw stones and shoot bullets. more.. Daniel Barenboim Visits Ramallah Palestine Monitor/The Palestinian National Initiative 4/19/2006 Ramallah, 18-04-06: World-renowned conductor, Daniel Barenboim, visited Ramallah today to conduct a special rehearsal with the Young Palestine Chamber Orchestra in preparation for an upcoming concert this Saturday at the Ramallah Cultural Palace. The concert will be performed by some 60 young Palestinians from Ramallah and Nazareth, and will be conducted by Anna-Sophie Bruening. *The Orchestra was launched by the Barenboim-Said Foundation in 2003 in partnership with the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music and the Friends' School. It forms part of the Foundations vision to integrate music into the fabric of society, to promote the spirit of peace, dialogue and reconciliation through music, and to encourage education and formative activity in the field of music. more..
Israeli, Palestinian music share turf in composer's new work Stanford Report 9/11/2002 Berger's oft-performed 'kaleidoscopic' piece resonates with listeners, musicians -- Miracles or mud? - It's a choice you're likely to face whether you walk into a Jewish or Muslim household in Israel. Translation: "Instant coffee or Turkish coffee? " Jonathan Berger, an associate professor of music, tweaks the question a bit for the title of one of his recent compositions. Miracles and Mud, commissioned by the St. Lawrence String Quartet, contains whispering references to both a Palestinian song and an Israeli song. The quartet, Stanford's ensemble in residence, finished a studio recording of the piece late last month. It will be featured on a compact disc of chamber music written by Berger. more..
Art and culture provide an oasis of calm in war-torn Baghdad Daily Star 3/9/2006 BAGHDAD: Budding artists at Baghdad's School of Music and Ballet might dream of fame, but few would care to boast of their talents in violence-racked Iraq where religious extremists frown on music and condemn dancing. "There's nothing in Islam that says music is bad, but somepeople are narrow-minded. As for me, I both play the joza (a spiked fiddle played with a bow) and pray," said one of the school's 200 students, who did not wish to be identified. Thirteen-year-old Rola Fellah fell in love with the ballet at age five, while watching it on television. "When I dance I forget everything that's going on in my country, I'm in another world," says the young girl, wearing pink dancing slippers and black tights, as she practices a 'pas de deux' in a mirror-paneled classroom. more..
Palestinian ensemble seeks to build musical bridge International Solidarity Movement/Reuters 2/19/2006 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Music is one of few certainties in the life of Ahmad Al-Khatib, a 31-year-old classically trained Palestinian musician touring the United States this month with the four-man Oriental Music Ensemble. Born in a refugee camp in Jordan, the accomplished oud player first saw his homeland in 1998 and has been working with the Jerusalem-based Palestinian National Conservatory of Music ever since, but Israel refused to renew his visa in 2002 and has no idea if or when he can return to the West Bank. Even the preparations for the groups first U.S. tour were rocky, and Al-Khatib received his U.S. visa just days before he was due to leave Sweden, where he is now pursuing a masters degree in music. Im not really sure about what the future holds, he said. But my situation is typical for the Palestinians and there are many worse stories. At least I managed to find other ways to keep working. more..
Freedom Theatre to open in Jenin refugee camp Electronic Intifada 2/18/2006 Final preparations are under way for the opening of the Jenin refugee camp Freedom Theatre. The Freedom Theatre, inspired by activities initiated by Arna Mer-Khamis during the first Intifada, was established by residents of the Jenin refugee camp in cooperation with Palestinian activists and artists from Haifa and the Galilee, as well as activists from Sweden and Britain. The Freedom Theatre, a registered non-governmental organization, is planning on establishing within the near future a community-based cultural center that will house a large theatre, rehearsal rooms, a music studio, and a library. The Freedom Theatre will be the home of a local theatre group and it will host Palestinian and international theatres and theatre group productions for children, youth, and adults. more..
Shoshana Damari, diva of Israeli popular song, 1923-2006 Ha'aretz 2/14/2006 Born in 1923 in the city of Damar in Yemen, Shoshana Damari, diva of Israeli popular song and an Israel Prize laureate, came to Israel at the age of two. She began her long musical career as a young child, accompanying her mother, who sang at functions. Damari left her parents' home at age 13 and moved to Tel Aviv, where she met her manager Shlomo Bushmi. The two married three years later. That same year, 1949, Damari launched a solo musical act at the Li-La-Lo Theater and became a permanent cast member at the theater. more..
Arab music tour to benefit music education in Palestine Electronic Intifada/ANERA 2/6/2006 Playing lively arrangements based on classical themes, four Palestinian musicians will perform authentic instrumental Arab music in the U.S. for the first time, from February 14-24. Proceeds of the American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) sponsored concert tour will support the Palestine Youth Orchestra of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music. Washington, DC: Wednesday, February 15, 7:30 pm ICC Auditorium, Intercultural Center, Georgetown University more..
Belgian Music Fund Offers Instruments to Palestine WAFA 1/2/2006 GAZA, January 2, 2006 (WAFA)-The Belgian Organization, Music Fund, offered Monday musical instruments to Al Qattan Center and the Television of Palestine. Director of Music Fund, Lucas Pairon, revealed, in an interview, that the 300 musical instruments were offered within the framework of Belgian solidarity with the Palestinian people. Pairon told WAFA that this donation includes pianos, violins, guitars, and flutes, adding that the Israeli authorities had banned the entry of the totality of the instruments. more..
Choreographer Strikes a Pose for Palestinian Identity 12/16/2005 "El-Funoun, which means 'the arts,' was founded in 1979 as a way to resist Israeli occupation by preserving provincial Palestinian dance and music.. "Omar Barghouti doesn't tiptoe around anything. As one of the choreographers and the trainer of a Palestinian dance troupe currently touring the United States, this engineer by training tackles his multiple jobs and passions with purpose. "We are on a cultural mission; that is what drives us," Barghouti said while juggling rehearsals, last-minute show details, and the U.S. tour, which includes stops in New York City, Washington, D. C. , and Dearborn, Mich. more..
New regional music deserves to be heard in Arab world music festivals 12/3/2005 BEIRUT: Music festivals can be many things: powerful genre events like jazz, pop or rock-music shows such as the London Jazz Festival, Glastonbury and Reading in the U. K. , but few have the breadth of world music festivals such as Womad, which relocates to different nations annually, or the three-day December TransMusicales contemporary festival in Rennes, France. Lebanon, which crosses an historic boundary next year with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Baalbek International Festival, and its event producers might learn a thing or two by studying such global exhibitions of music. more..
After school activities supported by UNICEF 11/14/2005 At the childrens national music club in Sameer saed Al-Deen School in the West Bank town of Nablus, two children were playing the piano together, showing a keen sense in what they are playing. Ten-year-old Hamza of the Fifth Grade says he likes music so much that he wishes to study it in university. "Sports and music is the world language and all people could meet each other while participating in sport competition or musical forum, regardless any other issues," he says. more..
London Film Festival showcases strong Middle Eastern films Daily Star 11/3/2005 Selection is an eclectic mosaic of fresh voices from an oft-reported-on and frequently misunderstood region -- LONDON: Traditionally seen as the annual roundup of the best from the world's film festivals, the 49th London Film Festival wraps this Thursday with its strongest line-up of Middle Eastern films in recent years. From Fatih Akin's joyous celebration of Turkish music with "Crossing The Bridge" via Palestinian Rashid Masharawi's "Waiting" through to Lebanon's "A Perfect Day" and Iran's "Wake Up Arezoo" and "Portrait of a Lady Far Away," this year's LFF selection has been a suitably eclectic mosaic of fresh voices from an oft-reported-on and frequently misunderstood region. more..
London Film Festival showcases strong Middle Eastern films 11/3/2005 Selection is an eclectic mosaic of fresh voices from an oft-reported-on and frequently misunderstood region -- LONDON: Traditionally seen as the annual roundup of the best from the world's film festivals, the 49th London Film Festival wraps this Thursday with its strongest line-up of Middle Eastern films in recent years. From Fatih Akin's joyous celebration of Turkish music with "Crossing The Bridge" via Palestinian Rashid Masharawi's "Waiting" through to Lebanon's "A Perfect Day" and Iran's "Wake Up Arezoo" and "Portrait of a Lady Far Away," this year's LFF selection has been a suitably eclectic mosaic of fresh voices from an oft-reported-on and frequently misunderstood region. more..
Silence is death - Censorship in the Arab world 11/1/2005 'Freedom of Expression in Music' conference in Beirut posed many questions but did it reach any solutions? -- BEIRUT: Plato recognized music's ability to threaten people and society while Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars have at times described it as a source of sin. A conference in Beirut this month on the censorship of music produced some interesting revelations about man's love and fear of this beautiful art. The Taliban, for example, invoked the following hadith to justify the banning of all musical instruments in Afghanistan: "Those who listen to music and songs in this world will on the Day of Judgement have molten lead poured into their ears. " more..
Madina Theater offers up an iftar of oriental music Daily Star 10/14/2005 Concerts feature the cream of upcoming stars from the Arab world --BEIRUT: The Muslim holy month of Ramadan is not strictly a time for music and entertainment. But in today's Lebanon, iftar tents featuring popular singers and musicians are prevalent and evening events at Beirut eateries along the seafront and numerous hotel restaurants often run into the early hours. As an alternative to these, the Lebanese actress and proprietor of the Medina Theater Nidal al-Ashkar has arranged a series of oriental music concerts, featuring the cream of upcoming stars invigorating the music, and at the same time, reinvigorating the Medina. more..
Ahmad al-Khatib brings Palestine to the Medina Daily Star 10/11/2005 BEIRUT: Playful yet serious, romantic yet unflinching, Ahmad al-Khatib and his oud brought politics, art and humanity effortlessly together in music at the Medina Theater here on Saturday evening. Performing with percussionist and fellow Palestinian Nassir Salameh at a concert organized by Freemuse (an NGO based in Denmark that works on music and censorship around the world) and the Heinrich Boll Foundation to mark the closing of a conference on music and censorship in the Middle East, the Palestinian exile's nimble fret-work mesmerized an audience in sympathy with Khatib's plight. more..
Hip-Hop for Palestine CounterPunch 10/1/2005 "Free the P" - Art amplifies voices on the margins--the views and opinions that power silences. But while money and influence can control editorial boards and network TV, they cannot stop the individual's creative process. As long as the powerful breed disparity, their victims will find ways to express themselves. Last month, the Palestinian-American hip-hop crew The Philistines announced the release of a CD dedicated to the youth of Palestine. The compilation CD, titled "Free the P," brings together over 20 hip-hop and spoken word artists. Its aim is to promote awareness about the Palestinian struggle for freedom while raising funds to support an upcoming documentary film--SlingShot Hip Hop--about hip-hop in Palestine. This is likely the first musical collaboration of its kind. "Free the P," shows the cool side of globalization--the grassroots version that undermines corporate power. Conscious American MC's and poets of diverse backgrounds put down verses exposing the plight of the Palestinians and showing solidarity with Palestinian artists. According to executive producer Ragtop, while dedicated to Palestine, the CD was inspired by "the global struggle for peace and justice. " more..
On Lebanese hip-hop scene Omarz takes point with brand of powerful rap Daily Star 9/29/2005 24-year-old musician makes waves as demo CD played on BBC radio but gets no airtime at home -- BEIRUT: The Swiss-born, Paris-based artist Thomas Hirschhorn said "The trap for an artist is not the market. ... The danger is to lose the mission!" Hirschhorn was referring to the plastic and fine arts, but his words apply as much to the (albeit) small crew of underground musical artists that exist in Lebanon. For them, be it in the genres of heavy rock (The Kordz), punk-pop (The New Government) or hip-hop (Kitaayoun), the mission is not only to survive in an impossible market against the Arab bubblegum pop of Yuri Mrakadi (with songs like "Arabiyun Ana") or Maria (with songs like "Ilaab"), but to speak their minds. more..
Afghanistan in Palestine Ha'aretz 8/2/2005 "The war isn't only being waged with rifles and rocks. The notebook, the paintbrush and the music are weapons, too. " This quote, which sounds like a worthy Scouts motto, was made during an interview given by Palestinian singer Amar Hassan to a Palestinian reporter in Houston, Texas, shortly before he came to appear in Ramallah at the International Palestinian Festival earlier this month. Last year, Hassan was the Palestinian hero of the day. He and the Libyan singer Aiman Al A'tar were neck and neck for the lead in the "Superstar" singing competition, which is based on "American Idol," but in the end the Libyan won. However, he continues to be a sought-after star in Arab countries and Arab communities in the West. There is also a political story behind Amar's failure to take first place in "Superstar. " more..
Israeli-Arab rap: an outlet for youth protest Christian Science Monitor 7/21/2005 Palestinian hip-hop music - with lyrics in Hebrew, English, and Arabic - is gaining popularity. -- LOD, ISRAEL Over the past seven years, a musical phenomenon has been rising from the back streets of Israel's predominantly Muslim towns, and sweeping the overcrowded Palestinian cities and refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza. It is Palestinian rap or hip-hop music, an exotic blend of Arabic melodies, Western beat, and fluid lyrics recited in English, Arabic, and, quite often, Hebrew. Rap music first flourished in the ghettos of Los Angeles and New York during the 1970s. Now young Palestinian musicians have tailored the style to express their own grievances with the social and political climate in which they live and work. more..
Music became a weapon Ha'aretz 7/21/2005 "The atmosphere has changed, and I feel more like a fighter than a musician. "-- The natural landscape from the desert to the sea, Palestinian culture and history, the folk poetry and the contemporary poetry of her people - these are the sources of inspiration for Rim Banna, a Palestinian singer born in Nazareth. She has always seen her artistic mission as spreading Palestinian songs internationally and freeing them from external influences that have damaged their authenticity. This is the case now, too, although these aims have been pushed backstage a bit, "because during the past five years, since 2000, everything has been destroyed and has changed. " more..
Acting, song and poetry merge at Baalbek Daily Star 7/18/2005 BAALBEK: Zad Moultaka's "A Dionysos" at the Baalbek International Festival on Saturday night was much more than a tribute to the Greek god of death, drunkenness and debauchery. Appropriately held on the steps of the Bacchus Temple, the show was an intriguing collaboration - wide in scope and experimentation - between the innovative Lebanese composer and concert pianist Moultaka, the internationally renowned French instrumental ensemble Ars Nova and the chamber choir Les Elements and soloist Fadia Tomb el Hage. A series of Lebanese poets' words put to music, the concert began with a piece entitled "Zikr," which was dedicated to the memory of murdered journalist Samir Kassir. more..
Palestinian Poet Lashes Out at Militants Yahoo! News 7/13/2005 RAMALLAH, West Bank - It's been a hot summer on the Palestinian arts scene: gunmen broke up the concert of a popularWest Bank singer after he refused to limit his repertoire to political songs, and a Hamas-run town banned a music festival to prevent mingling of the sexes. Now, Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish is striking back, saying fanatics have no right to deprive Palestinians of beauty in their lives. "There are Taliban-type elements in our society, and this is a very dangerous sign," Darwish told a gathering of artists and intellectuals this week. It's not just an argument over artistic freedom, but over whether a future Palestinian state will be a theocracy or a pluralistic democracy. more..
Hamas council bans music festival BBC 7/1/2005 A Hamas-led town council in the West Bank has banned outdoor music and dance performances planned as part of a summertime Palestinian festival. A Qalqilya council spokesman said it was partly to avoid damaging the grass. But he also said the council had been elected to protect the conservative values of the city, which included not approving of men and women mixing. In May the militant Hamas won the West Bank town's elections, ousting the mainstream Fatah party. Parliamentary challenge: Outdoor plays and concerts are being held across the West Bank this month as part of the Palestine International Festival. more..
Khan Yunis rapper trio says music, not violence will end occupation Ha'aretz 6/29/2005 KHAN YUNIS, Gaza Strip - Three young Palestinians say there's a better way to oppose the Israeli occupation than the violence that they worry tarnishes their people's image for too many in the West. They are relying on rap music. Their band PR, or Palestinian Rappers, rejects violence and instead dramatizes the Palestinians' plight in songs with names like "Freedom" and "Our Screams. " "Rap music was founded in the United States, so by singing rap we can't be called terrorists," says band member Mohammed Farrah, 19, who goes by the nicknames "D. R. " and "Dynamic Rapper. " "The only way for us to fight occupation is through rap singing. " more..
Taa'been Kalil Marshood Electronic Intifada 6/24/2005 On Friday 17th June Balata Refugee Camp commemorated the first anniversary of the assassination of Kalil Marshood. Perhaps 5,000 people sat in the hot afternoon sun to watch as bands played, youths performed plays, small girls sang, masked wanted-men saluted, fighters fired in the air and women old enough to be grandmothers danced with guns waived aloft, to a backdrop of rousing music and giant banners. The people had gathered in tribute to the life of a twenty four year old newly-wed known and loved as much for his work for his community, particularly with the children of the camp, as for his membership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a Palestinian resistance group. more..
The last rock 'n' roll hero Daily Star 6/15/2005 Rachid Taha rocks the casbah -- BEIRUT: Music Hall on Monday night could have been a heaving Parisian basement as aging Algerian renegade Rachid Taha rocked the casbah for over two hours. It might also have been a turn of genius from the outspoken star, who managed to work a normally staid Lebanese crowd into a jumping fury of screams and sweating bodies with the tracks that made him famous, as well as mess with their minds denouncing political assassinations and arguing for a true revolution. more..
THAW to Host Al-Rowwad Palestinian Children's Theater WAFA 6/7/2005 NEW YORK, June 7, 2005, (WAFA)- Theaters Against War (THAW) will host on Monday June 13 a performance event and silent auction to benefit Al-Rowwad Palestinian Children's Theater in US Tour. In a statement on Tuesday, THAW said that this performance will be in courtesy of THAW Member Theater Nevada Shakespeare Company during a dark night of their run of A Single Woman, the benefit features an array of acclaimed playwrights, poets, theater performers and musicians, all in support of this extraordinary troupe of young people. THAW added that in late June 2005, the Al-Rowwad theater company, based at the Aida Refugee Camp outside Bethlehem, will be coming to the U.S. for a 4-city tour. more..
Israel composer stole 1967 anthem BBC 5/5/2005 An Israeli composer admitted on her deathbed to plagiarising a tune that has become a national victory anthem. Naomi Shemer, one Israel's best loved songwriters, made her confession about the song, Jerusalem of Gold, to another composer before she died last year. The song was adopted by Israeli forces celebrating East Jerusalem's capture from the Arabs during the 1967 War. After years of angry denials, Shemer wrote that she had in fact used the melody of a Basque lullaby. "I consider the entire affair a regrettable work accident - so regrettable that it may be the reason for me taking ill," she wrote to composer Gil Aldema days before her death last June.... The song continues to serve as an unofficial Israeli anthem and is often played on the radio and at national ceremonies. more..
Sax great Arnie Lawrence dies YNetNews 4/25/2005 Jerusalem saxophone player Arnie Lawrence passed away over the weekend -- Renowned saxophone player Arnie Lawrence died over the weekend at Jerusalem's Hadassah hospital. Lawrence, who lived in Jerusalem for the last decade of his life, was considered one of the most important jazz teachers in the world. During a storied career, he shared the stage with many renowned jazz players such as Dizzy Gillespie and James Brown.... He moved to Israel in 1997 to found Jerusalems international center for creative music, where young Israeli and Palestinian musicians study side-by-side. more..
Film review: "Sense of Need" Electronic Intifada 4/22/2005 Sense of Need (2004) begins simply enough with the main character narrating his life for the viewer. Almost switched at birth with a red-haired Jewish boy, Palestinian Joseph was born while Israel was at war with Egypt. At the age of seven his father bought him his first piano and then "began his life in color. " At first one might take this as purely a poetic metaphor, but this is not the case in newcomer Shady Srour's psychologically complicated and loosely autobiographical plot. Srour, a man of many talents, wrote, directed, and produced his first full-length feature film. He also portrays the protagonist Joseph, a twenty-seven year old aspiring musician who lives in San Francisco and is just a week away from finishing his masters degree. more..
Those Kids Must Choke - new record label captures free improv on disc Daily Star 2/12/2005 Experimental Beirut music scene gets chance to reach wider audience -- BEIRUT: "The records I want to release on this label are the records I want to own," says 26-year-old musician Charbel Haber with characteristically earnest enthusiasm. For nearly a decade, Haber has been singing and heavily distorting the sounds of his guitar with the experimental Beirut-based rock band Scrambled Eggs, a foursome that includes guitarist Marc Codsi, bassist Tony Aliyeh, and drummer Said Aliyeh. more..
East Jerusalem's Chehade Brothers Nominated for Music Award Electronic Intifada 1/18/2005 Among this years nominees for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music is Palestinian group the Chehade Brothers. Rami and Farid Chehade, in their 20s, are originally from East Jerusalem. They have recently enjoyed success with their improvised approach to tarab (a musical style fusing various cultural elements), which they term light popular tarab. The result is a modern, smooth and gentle approach to a popular style of music. more..
African Israelis / Ethiopians reject Israeli society, as it has rejected them Ha'aretz 1/13/2005 On a rainy Friday night, hundreds of Ethiopian youngsters crowd into Allenby club on Tel Aviv's Hamasger street. The stifling, smoke-filled club is underground, its walls are festooned with Bob Marley posters, but the loudspeakers are blaring hip-hop music. The room is covered with mirrors, and many of the youngsters, some scantily dressed, are dancing in front of them, watching themselves. more..
Film review: "Edward Said: The Last Interview" By Jenny Gheith, Electronic Intifada 12/31/2004 Filmed within three days in 2002, just one year before his death at the age of 67, Edward Said: The Last Interview is a compelling portrait of a man who was not only a strong advocate of the Palestinian cause, but an accomplished teacher, literary critic, writer and musician. After living for more than ten years with a fatal strain of leukemia, which he was diagnosed with in 1991, Said refused interviews. However, former student D. D. Guttenplan along with director Mike Dibb convinced him otherwise. more..
Review: The Shouting Fence Electronic Intifada 11/29/2004 The Culture Park Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam provided a natural setting for an unique performance of The Shouting Fence. This musical expression of emotions about the Separation Wall built in the occupied Palestinian territories was performed by at least 1,500 voices. They include The Shout, a professional choir directed by Orlando Gough and Richard Chew, and the Exile choir, Trajecti Voces, Utrechtse Studenten Cantorij, Childrens' choir De Kickers and four hundred singers from various choirs and individuals performed The Shouting Fence. more..
Rival rappers reflect Mid-East conflict BBC 11/26/2004 "Our message is one of humanity - but it's also political - we make protest music. " These are the words of Tamer Nafer, lead rapper of the first Palestinian hip-hop group, DAM. Rap music has always been unafraid to speak about conflict and social problems so it is no surprise that its uncompromising style has spread from the deprived ghettos of 1980's New York to Israel. In fact, Nafer, an Israeli Arab, believes that the struggle of African-Americans against discrimination is mirrored by that his of own community... That message will probably not be well received by DAM's polar opposite, Israeli rapper MC Subliminal. Subliminal has developed his style by adopting the 'bling' image of gold jewellery and fast cars of US rappers - and then adding a large portion of Israeli nationalism. more..
Arab street music in London - an ambitious night that fell short Daily Star 11/2/2004 Confusion of sounds only hints at what could have been -- LONDON: "Streetmusic Arabe" would like to be many things - specifically as claimed in its press release, "a strike against cultural imperialism. " Funded and produced by the Contemporary Music Network and featuring French-Lebanese rapper Clotaire K, veteran Moroccan group Nass El Ghiwane and American DJ Rupture, this music tour would like to be a daring, innovative fusion of hip hop and electronica meshed with old school Arab influences. more..
British bands play for Palestine youth Al-Jazeera 10/16/2004 Some of the biggest names in Britain's alternative music scene are to play a benefit concert for the Palestinian people. On Saturday, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, and Steve from the Beta Band are due to perform to a sell-out crowd at London's Brixton Academy, in what is probably the biggest benefit gig for Palestinians ever held in Britain. Aisling Byrne, project director with the Hoping Foundation, the charity organising the event, said the bands had offered to take part in the event as there was increased awareness of the Palestinian issue in Britain. more..
Here's hoping: Primal Scream for Palestine Electronic Intifada 10/15/2004 Tomorrow our band Primal Scream, together with Spiritualized and some other special guests, are playing in London for the children of Palestine. As far as I know, it's the first time that a benefit gig has been staged on this scale in Britain for the Palestinian people. It is often said that the Palestinian issue is so difficult and sensitive that it's better not to get involved. But the truth is, it's not. It's easy. There is no shortage of musicians ready to show their support for the Palestinians at this time in their struggle. more..
Cacophonous blasts of musical - and cultural - freedom Daily Star 8/20/2004 BEIRUT: For the majority of people free improvised music is merely noise - a cacophony of sounds from randomly matched instruments that has neither rhyme nor reason and is therefore wholly inaccessible. For Lebanese musicians Sharif and Christine Sehnaoui and Mazen Kerbaj, it is far more than that. It is not only music but a way of life. The trio have, for the last four years, organized Irtijal - the International Festival of Free Improvised Music in Lebanon, which is happening this weekend in local venues around Beirut. more..
Young cast overcomes inexperience to make Palestinian musical a hit Daily Star 8/18/2004 'Lanterns' director: 'We've come along way together, and they deserve all the acclaim they get' -- RAMALLAH: It was a 12-year-old idea, and, once production started in earnest, it took two years to realize. But it all came together in style when "Fawanees," billed as the first Palestinian musical, opened to a full house at the new Ramallah Cultural Palace on Aug. 6. And, as the all-singing, all dancing cast took their bows on Aug. 8 to the standing ovation of a 726 capacity audience for a third night in a row, it was easy to forget that not one of the performers was over 16, and none had any previous experience performing at this level. more..
Obituary: Naomi Shemer The Guardian 6/29/2004 Composer whose work articulated the dream of an Israel at peace -- Naomi Shemer, who has died of cancer aged 73, embodied the Israel dream as perhaps no other composer and lyricist had done. Her greatest international hit, Jerusalem The Gold, first performed in the tumultuous summer of 1967, was, for many, the natural outcome of a string of songs that celebrated the return of the Jews to their historical homeland and language after '1,900 years of exile'. more..
Barenboim awarded peace prize Ha'aretz 6/28/2004 BERLIN - Symphonic conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim received the Givat Haviva Peace Center award for promoting peace in the Middle East yesterday. Israeli-born Barenboim, the general musical director of Berlin's State Opera Unter den Linden, received the award at a ceremony in Berlin from Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, who heads the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Peace. The conductor was praised for promoting understanding between Israelis and Palestinians. more..
Palestinian musician expresses cultural pride with his art Daily Star 6/25/2004 Khalid Jubran builds reputation as one of Palestine's foremost instrumentalists, composers, teachers -- JERUSALEM: Khalid Jubran is still on a high a month after his last concert in Ramallah. "There were a 145 people to 85 seats. Before I started, I asked them that if they got bored, to wait until a piece was finished before they got up and left. No one moved for the entire concert. I've never experienced such intensity," Jubran says. more..
Likud MK demands conductor Barenboim be stripped of prize Maariv 5/5/2004 Ruhama Avraham says conductor who played music of anti-Semitic composer Wagner not eligible for Wolf Award. Rivlin to boycott ceremony. -- MK Ruhama Avraham (Likud) has turned to Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and demanded that he annul the decision to bestow controversial conductor Daniel Barenboim with the Wolf Award, in a ceremony scheduled to take place later this week. more..
Hate mail Palestine Monitor/The Guardian 1/19/2004 Jewish activists opposing the Israeli government's policies face intimidation and harassment via email and on the internet. Brian Whitaker reports -- Deborah Fink is a singer and music teacher living in London. She is also Jewish. Last month, out of the blue, she received a deluge of hateful emails - more than 150 in the space of a week. One came from a rabbi in New York, informing her: "Your soul, my dear, is petrified and lost. " Another said, menacingly: "Hitler killed the wrong Jews. " more..
The strong, beautiful voice of the marginalized Daily Star 1/24/2004 Egyptian singer has 1st commercial release, 8 years after his death -- The year 2003 witnessed a number of significant events, none of which is the subject of this article. Rather, I want to write about a CD that came out that year. The CD is a collection of songs by the late Egyptian singer and composer Sheikh Imam, a man who was a saga in and of himself. He was born in July 1918 and lost his sight when he was two months old. Sheikh Imam did not become active as a composer till 1962, when he met the poet Ahmad Fouad Najm. more..
In Gemmayzeh, a pied piper named Nicole brings the crowd along on a trip aboard her magic swirling ship Daily Star 1/8/2004 Chicago jazz musician says she is just a flute player (never a flautist), but to some her music means so much more -- The song begins low, the tempo slow, the notes mere breaths of sound. They are evenly pitched, and held for several beats. Then the rhythm hitches, and jumps off track, as the time signature goes weird and the chords begin walking strange changes to the bridge. more..
Lebanese musician Munir Khauli opens up about his life Daily Star 12/30/2003 Composer writes and sings songs about countrys unsatisfactory conditions -- Munir Khauli speaks with the ease and style of someone who works with words. The work of this 44-year-old musician is characterized by highly polished and meaningful lyrics. His serious face hides his tireless self-deprecating humor which allows (him) to make fun of everyone else. The album he released in September, Tannin al-Tarab, is the fruit of a long process that took him overseas and back again. more..
Marcel Khalifeh enthralls with musical journey Daily Star 12/23/2003 Master of the oud performs at UNESCO Palace -- Sitting in his distinctively quiet posture and minimalist setting, Marcel Khalifeh took his audience on a two-hour musical journey Friday night at UNESCO Palace, through a richly varied program that included sequences from his new, innovative compositions to a selection of rearranged pieces from his past tunes, and ending with a flourish on his classic songs, which over the past three decades have established him as an internationally renown oud master. more..
Christmas tunes that are more than just music Daily Star 12/20/2003 Orient (meets) Occident will be performed by 90 young musicians from more than 10 countries -- Christmas music differs from one part of the world to the next. In Europe, Bach and Handel are preferred, and in the Middle East, old religious songs. Ninety young musicians representing more than 10 different countries will offer us a taste of what Christmas sound is like in both regions. They will perform both Western and Oriental classical music, as well as old Syrian Christian songs in a big charity concert at St. Joseph Church entitled Orient (meets) Occident. Prior to the concert, the musicians, from Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, among others, rehearsed, lived and traveled together to Jordan and Syria for 10 days. more..
They will rock you Ha'aretz Friday Magazine 12/19/2003 In two languages, without pretense but with a lot of authenticity, a new musical production in Jaffa sparks both actors and audiences to say what they really think about Jewish-Arab coexistence --.... The theater can help, she feels. "I discovered that the theater is a useful tool for bridging conflicts, for raising issues and resolving problems, for people who find it difficult to speak directly. " On the other hand, when it comes to the Jewish-Arab dialogue, she finds that the tensions that exist in reality do not disappear on stage. more..
Bringing worlds together: a Palestinian celebration at the British Museum Daily Star 12/16/2003 Daylong event features storytellers, musicians, artists and a lot of laughter -- LONDON: The question of cultural and historical legacy has long been a hotly debated issue in the Middle East, tied up so intrinsically with the regions territorial disputes. Given that, it is significant that the British Museum saw fit to hold its own day of activities structured around events with a Palestinian theme, including music performances, storytelling and art workshops. At a time when the essential Palestinian identity is at risk of being negated, the decision is a timely and brave one, granting a people with a proud past the opportunity to show their best to the world. more..
Daniel Barenboim to apologize, receive Wolf Award Ha'aretz 12/16/2003 Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim will receive Israel's prestigious Wolf Prize after expressing regret Tuesday for any harm caused by his performance in Israel of music by Hitler's favorite composer, Richard Wagner. Education Minister Limor Livnat had demanded Barenboim apologize publicly for defying an unwritten ban on performaning works by Wagner in Israel.... In an interview Tuesday with Israel Radio, Barenboim said he had no regrets about playing the work, but added: "If people were really hurt, of course I regret this, because I don't want to harm anyone. " more..
Franco-Lebanese rapper is a star waiting for the world to catch up Daily Star 12/9/2003 Its been said that rap music has grown up and gone out into the world. No one fits this maxim better than Franco-Lebanese rapper Clotaire K. His command post is on the top floor of a dilapidated stone building on the fringe of the old city of Montpellier, in southern France. But his mind, like his music, is in several places at once London and Beirut these days, though not exclusively. The son of an Egyptian from Alexandria and a Lebanese mother, Clotaire, who shares his name with old Frankish kings, prefers to keep mum about his last name and age. He grew up in southern France, spending his summers in Beirut until age 6, but then stopped because of the war. more..
Ghassan Rahbani: exploring life and the universe through the lens of Oriental rock and dance Daily Star 11/25/2003 Lebanese composers show at Casino du Liban takes audience to heaven, hell and purgatory and then brings them back to earth -- It could be that Lebanese rock star Ghassan Rahbanis continuing musical message of critiquing society is more popular than anyone might have realized if the packed audience at the Casino du Liban on Friday night was anything to go by. more..
Vessel of peace takes a new form Sydney Morning Herald 11/11/2003 Ten years after renegade Israeli peacemaker Abie Nathan sunk his pirate radio station in the Mediterranean Sea, Israeli and Palestinian activists have launched a land-based version of his Voice of Peace. Mr Nathan launched the Voice of Peace in 1973, broadcasting a mix of news, peace messages and pop music from somewhere in the Mediterranean. Despite high ratings, advertising revenue dwindled and Mr Nathan sunk the ship in 1993 after running out of funds. The New Voice of Peace has been launched as a joint initiative by an Israeli education centre, Givat Haviva, and the Palestinian weekly newspaper The Jerusalem Times. more..
Najla Said continues her fathers legacy with performance of ReOrientalism Daily Star 11/8/2003 Production tackles seminal work -- NEW YORK: Desert sand runs deceptively through the hourglass. From full to empty to full again, time turns the hourglass on its head. Only the watchful notice that although everything appears the same, everything differs up has become down and the sand has shifted. Najla Said, daughter of the late Palestinian author and academic Edward Said, has seen the hourglass tip many times. From the 1991 Gulf War, to Sept. 11, 2001, to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, she has watched the sands shift from the Orientalism her father identified, to ReOrientalism. In a small New York City theater, five musicians, a belly dancer and an actress, 29-year-old Najla, reclaim, reshape and redirect the Wests image of the East in the performance titled ReOrientalism. more..
Sherman Irby: Another master jazz man follows the trail to Beirut Daily Star 10/10/2003 Blue Note hosts saxophonist from Alabama who mixes blues with southern Soul -- Word is getting through. What began as a whisper has grown into a shout. Among jazz musicians in New York, word on the street is that Lebanon is the place to be, and Beirut is its pumping heart. The country and its scarred capital is becoming the key stop in the relatively young international touring circuit that is the Middle East. more..
No-shows at Paris concert for peace demonstrate pitfalls of Mideast politics Daily Star 9/30/2003 Fans applaud Israeli, Palestinian, African and French performers, but Marcel Khalife stays home -- PARIS: The concept of peace in the Middle East is a polarizing subject to say the least. Organizing a concert to promote peace in the area has proved to be polarizing as well. Concert for a Just Peace in the Middle East, the Parisian mega-event in the world of happenings dedicated to the Palestinian cause, did indeed take place on Sept. 27 to mark the third anniversary of the intifada, with no fewer than 15,000 people attending. But two significant no-shows Leila Shahid, the Palestinian Authoritys representative in Paris, and Marcel Khalife, one of Lebanons premier musicians were indications of the contentious nature of the concerts organization. more..
The West's greatest Palestinian advocate Al-Jazeera 9/28/2003 Edward Said was the most passionate and eloquent defender of the Palestinian cause in the most pro-Israeli country in the world, the United States. After an 11-year battle with leukaemia, Said passed away aged 68 in New York on Thursday. A professor of comparative literature at Colombia University, Said straddled a huge range of subjects, from opera and politics to the media and classical music. But he will ultimately be remembered as an unstinting critic of Israel and, more surprisingly, of Yasir Arafats Palestinian Authority. more..
No ordinary concert Al-Ahram Weekly on-line 4 - 10 September 200 Last week the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the musical group set up by Daniel Barenboim and Edward Said, played at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Tania Tamari Nasir tells the story of two powerful experiences in Jerusalem and Birzeit, the backdrop to this unique project where Arab and Israeli musicians play together, transcending conflict and war, extending a hand for peace. more..
Sounds of occupation Ha'aretz 9/3/2003 Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim unite music and politics in Spain. -- SEVILLE - Politics and music, oppression and music, morality and music - these are the main themes taken up by the guests at the tranquil Lantana youth hostel, not far from the Spanish city of Seville. Over 80 young musicians from Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Lebanon and Spain were there last month, preparing for a series of joint chamber and symphony concerts in Spain, Germany and other countries in Europe, as well as Morocco. more..
'Peace' orchestra makes Arab debut BBC 8/25/2003 An orchestra made up of young Israeli and Arab musicians has played its first concert in an Arab country. The West-Eastern-Divan Orchestra played a programme of Mozart and Beethoven pieces in the Moroccan capital, Rabat. The concert was conducted by the orchestra's co-founder, the Israeli conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim. Despite heavy security surrounding the event, the concert hall, in the city's Mohammed V Theatre, was full and the musicians received a standing ovation. more..
Sufi performers take over Temple of Bacchus Daily Star 8/25/2003 Whether they succeed in offering musical ecstasy is another question -- On Saturday evening the 2003 Baalbek Festival is ending where it began, in the place they call The Temple of Bacchus. It is an appropriate venue for Aleppos Kindi Ensemble.... Kindi is the creation of Swiss-Alsatian Julien Jalal Eddine Weiss. Born and raised in Paris, Weiss has been described as one of the few accomplished qanoun players in the world. He is certainly one of the very few from France. Beginning as a guitarist, Weiss discovered classical Arabic music in the mid-1970s. more..
Israeli-Arab orchestra performs in Morocco Ha'aretz 8/25/2003 RABAT - An orchestra in which young Israeli and Palestinian musicians play side-by-side gave a concert in the Moroccan capital on Sunday, its first performance in an Arab country. Security was tight as Moroccan government ministers, members of the diplomatic community and a sprinkling of tourists came to hear the orchestra, which is led by conductor Daniel Barenboim, an Argentine-born Israeli citizen. more..
Barenboim heads to Rabat for first ever concert on Arab land Middle East Times 8/22/2003 Argentine-born pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim was planning to take his West-Eastern-Divan orchestra of Arab and Israeli musicians to Rabat for a concert on Sunday that will be the ensemble's first date in an Arab country. Barenboim, born in 1942 in Buenos Aires to Russian Jewish parents, will conduct the 80-strong group in the Muhammad V Theater as they perform Beethoven's Third Symphony and Mozart's Concerto for Three Pianos. more..
As the cycle of violence escalates, Barenboim takes his Arab-Israeli orchestra to play for peace The Independent 8/22/2003 Daniel Barenboim was preparing himself for a "Concert for Peace" when the appalling news of the carnage began to filter through. Amid the stunning beauty of the 2,000-year-old Teatro Romano in the Spanish city of Merida, the conductor was rehearsing his remarkable cross-cultural orchestra of 80 young Arab and Israeli musicians. more..
Barenboim concert thrills West Bank BBC 8/3/2003 The controversial Israeli pianist and conductor, Daniel Barenboim, has played a rare concert for Palestinians in Ramallah in the West Bank. Daniel Barenboim has attracted criticism in Israel for giving recitals in the West Bank. However he says his concert was not about politics, but about using music to bridge the divide between Israelis and Palestinians. more..
Daniel Barenboim: Israel's future depends on Palestinian state Ha'aretz 8/2/2003 Israeli musician Daniel Barenboim received a rapturous reception when he brought a program of Beethoven and Brahms - and a message of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation - to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Saturday. The renowned pianist andconductor, a longtime critic of Israeli policy toward the Palestinians, played a packed and sweltering auditorium at a Ramallah school, the scene of a visit last year that angered some Israelis. more..
Life emerges through art Middle East Times 8/1/2003 In April 2001, six months after the start of the intifada, a group of Palestinian artists, poets and writers began an initiative to revive the popular nature of the resistance. The group decided to organize a different kind of march to the military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem. It was a march restricted to artists in which they carried the tools of their trade: a variety of musical instruments, paintings, books, pens and pencils, and cameras. The artists and intellectuals about 500 in total - entered the military checkpoint from both sides. The scene was weird and confusing for the soldiers, who were used to other types of confrontation with the Palestinians during the preceding six months. In the middle of the confusion, groups of musicians, drummers, and photographers entered the checkpoint from both sides, merged together, and unleashed a wave of singing, chanting and music. more..
Israeli-Palestinian initiative to establish Voice of Peace radio Jerusalem Times 7/31/2003 The Palestinian organization Biladi, publishing company of The Jerusalem Times, and the Jewish Arab Center for Peace ,Givat Haviva,signed an agreement Sunday to jointly open Voice of Peace radio station. Mussi Raz, the Deputy of the Director Generalof Givat Haviva and former MK for Meretz, said the radio willbroadcast n Arabic, English and Hebrew. The radio station willrecieve the musical library and the jingles of peace activists Abbie Nathan's Voice of Peace radio stationwhich used to broadcast from a ship offshore in the Mediterinian, he added. more..
Palestinians, Israelis brought together in Wagner's shadow Middle East Online 2003-07-29 Bayreuth is synonymous with the annual month-long summer music festival dedicated exclusively to the works of Richard Wagner (1813-1883), a vitriolic anti-semite and the favourite composer of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. But running almost parallel with the legendary festival is a smaller independent one, aimed at searching out "the stars of tomorrow" from promising young students all over the world. And this year's Young Artists' Festival, the 53rd since its inception in 1950, will bring together a group of Israeli and Palestinian musicians, painters and dancers in what the festival's organisers hope will provide "a small step" in promoting political and cultural dialogue between the two peoples. more..
Nonviolence and art: Life emerging from the rubble By Mohammad Daraghmeh, Al-Hayat 2003-07-28 In April 2001, six months after the start of the Intifada, a group of Palestinian artists, poets and writers began an initiative to revive the popular nature of the Intifada. The group decided to organize a different kind of march to the military checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem. It was a march restricted to artists in which they carried the tools of their trade: various musical instruments, paintings, books, pens and pencils, and cameras. The artists and intellectuals, about 500 total, entered the military checkpoint from both sides. The scene was weird and confusing for the soldiers, who were used to other types of confrontation with the Palestinians during the preceding six months. In the middle of the confusion, groups of musicians, drummers, and photographers entered the checkpoint from both sides, merged together, and unleashed a wave of singing, chanting and music. Artist Walid Abdessalam, a prominent singer and theatre producer who was at the forefront of those at the checkpoint, describes the scene: The soldiers were totally confused facing us. We arrived carrying instruments of music and art, not stones. We didn't set fire to rubber tires, we sang. They were so confused that we managed to pass through their checkpoint. According to Abdessalam, the message carried by the artists and intellectuals on that day was this: All sectors of our society can express their rejection of the occupation in all possible nonviolent forms, without resorting to stones or weapons. more..
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![Daniel Barenboim [right] frequently uses his music to challenge fellow Israelis - BBC, AP photo](../images/164_39356415_baren203body.jpg)
